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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25565671">Invasion of the Space Vixens.</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/steeleye/pseuds/steeleye'>steeleye</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>After The First Won. [11]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV), Star Wars Original Trilogy, The War of the Worlds - H. G. Wells, War of the Worlds-1953, You Rang M'Lord?</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Action/Adventure, Gen, Humour</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 12:53:36</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>73,833</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25565671</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/steeleye/pseuds/steeleye</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>The very last 'After the First Won' story: Travel to exotic, far off worlds, meet new and interesting people...and drop bombs on them! The First is coming. Will our heroes be in the right place at the right time to stop Him? But first there’s an inter-planetary invasion to deal with.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Buffy/Original Character, Faith Lehane/Willow Rosenberg</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>After The First Won. [11]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1556119</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p></p><div class="center">
  <p>Invasion of the Space Vixens.</p>
</div><div class="center">
  <p>By Steeleye.</p>
</div><b>Disclaimer:</b> I do not own Buffy the Vampire Slayer or much of anything else. I write these stories for fun not profit.<p><b>Crossover:</b> 'The War of the Worlds'; the novel by HG Wells and the 1953 film produced by George Pal and directed by Byron Haskin. Also the BBC sit-com, 'You Rang M'lord' written by Jimmy Perry and David Croft and first broadcast in 1991. 'Star Wars', by that Lucas fellow, particularly the film with those annoyingly cute Ewoks in it; 'The Clangers' by someone I can't remember and I'm too lazy to look up and the same goes for the snippet from, 'Sink the Bismark'.</p><p><b>Spelling, Punctuation, and Grammar:</b> Written in glorious UK-English (the original and best) which is different to US-English.</p><p><b>Timeline:</b> The last in the 'After the First Won' series of stories.</p><p><b>Words:</b> Twenty-seven chapters of 2500+ words.</p><p><b>Warnings:</b> May contain nuts.</p><p><b>Summary:</b> The very last 'After the First Won' story: Travel to exotic, far off worlds, meet new and interesting people...and drop bombs on them! The First is coming. Will our heroes be in the right place at the right time to stop Him? But first there’s an inter-planetary invasion to deal with.</p><div class="center">
  <p>0=0=0=0</p>
</div>Standing in the red tinted light of the observatory, Harry Brown listened to the quiet hum of the electric motors which kept the big telescope on target. The cool night air came in through the slit in the roof through which the telescope watched the stars; however, it hardly made any difference to the warm, humid air inside.<p>Having worked for the Southminster Herald since his youth, Harry (now aged thirty-five) was one of the newspaper's senior reporters, he usually wrote articles on scientific topics which was why he was at the observatory tonight. Over the last few months there’d been a steady growth in public interest about all things astrological after the world had been hit by a number of meteorites. No great damage had been done to the civilised parts of the planet. Only a few of the demon-like savages that inhabited the less civilised areas of the world had been killed, but it had piqued the public’s interest.</p><p>His editor, having exhausted the usual informational articles about the other planets in the solar system, had sent Harry out into the country to talk to Professor Scott (the Royal Astronomer) and get his opinions on the possibilities of life on other worlds and the long term effects of meteor strikes on the planet. At this precise moment Professor Scott was helping one of his assistants calibrate the telescope, this gave Harry the opportunity to study his own thoughts on the subject.</p><p>It was a commonly held belief and Church Dogma, that when the ‘Fall’ happened all those hundreds of years ago, only the people of Eden had been saved when the only other planet with a human population (the mythical 'Earth') had been destroyed. Of course Harry didn’t believe this story any-more. As he’d grown older and the more he’d studied the sciences he’d come to reject this piece of dogma as pure poppy-cock; he wasn’t even that sure that the Church believed it any-more either. He’d spoken to several Bishops who’d implied (off the record) that the idea that Eden was the only human populated planet in the universe as ‘mistaken’. Of course he’d never be allowed to write anything so <i>heretical</i> without his paper coming under pressure to sack him; but people were now talking openly about such things. It would be interesting to see where Professor Scott stood on the subject, even if he couldn’t write about it openly.</p><p>“So, young man,” Professor Scott was suddenly standing next to Harry, he was a large, red-faced man with a booming voice and his sudden appearance had made Harry jump a little, “what do you want to know?”</p><p>“Ah!” Harry tried to control his rapidly beating heart and remember what he wanted to ask, “I was wondering where you stood on the entire ‘Life on other worlds’ question?”</p><p>“You were, were you?” the Professor replied as he eyed Harry suspiciously.</p><p>“Yes, Sir,” Harry replied, “of course anything you say will be off the record and the Confidentiality and Press Freedom laws would prevent me from being forced to divulge your name if you don’t want to be identified…”</p><p>“Hmm,” Scott scratched the side of his large, red nose with a sausage-like finger, “yes of course…well, don’t say I said so but the church is talking out of its arse and knows it. It just hasn’t got the balls to admit it’s wrong…I mean I can see their point. If they are wrong about this, what other subjects have they been wrong about for all these years, hmmm?”</p><p>“Indeed, Sir,” Harry said as he scribbled in his note book, “so you do believe that there are human or human-like life on other planets?”</p><p>“Undoubtedly, young man, undoubtedly,” Professor Scott laughed loudly, “anyone with half a brain can see that.”</p><p>“Would you mind expanding on that a little, Professor?” Harry asked his pencil poised over his notebook.</p><p>“Well, you see,” Scott began slowly, “in my position I’ve got to see a lot of the ancient records that the Church doesn’t let the general public look at…”</p><p>“I see,” nodded Harry silently willing the Professor to continue talking.</p><p>“…do you realise that the Earth of legend probably wasn't destroyed and likely still has a human population, hmmm?” Scott explained, “To think that everyone and everything had been destroyed in one catastrophic event is pure balderdash!” Scott took a breath before continuing, “And these fairy stories the Church spreads about God being ‘displeased’ with humanity like in the story of Noah and the flood…well I just don’t see it.”</p><p>“So, Professor,” Harry wanted Scott’s thoughts on what these other humans would be like not a discussion on Church Dogma (he could get that in any pub in Southminster), “what do you think these other-worldly humans would be like if we ever got to meet them?”</p><p>“Oh, you want me to speculate do you?” Scott raised an eyebrow; Harry nodded his head eagerly. “Well…barbarians of course!” Scott laughed almost making Harry wince with the volume of his voice. “They couldn’t be anything else don’t you see?”</p><p>“Not really, sir,” Harry shook his head.</p><p>“Let me explain,” Scott went on good naturedly, “the histories tell us how terrible things were on Eden just after The Fall, how nearly half the population almost starved to death…” Scott looked around to see if anyone was listening before adding, “…like I say I’ve seen some of the old records…we were almost reduced to using sticks and stones to survive y’know? Now, any other civilisation has got to have been hit just as badly as we were or worse. It’s taken us what? Nearly two-thousand years or more to get to our present state of advancement; I can’t see how anyone else could have done any better.”</p><p>“So you’re not expecting any ‘visitors’ to arrive anytime soon?” Harry laughed.</p><p>“Good Lord, no man! The chances of anyone coming from outer space are a million to one,” Scott joined in Harry’s amusement, “No if we ever want to find them we’ll have to go out and look for them ourselves.” Scott saw the next question forming in Harry’s mind, “If you’re going to ask me how soon we’ll be able to <i>go visit</i>, I guarantee you it won’t be in our life times.”</p><p>“Professor!” one of the Professor’s assistants called from over by the telescope, “Something odd's just happened.”</p><p>“Odd?” Scott forgot about Harry in an instant and hurried over to the telescope, “Odd you say? What sort of odd?”</p><p>“Lower right hand quadrant from St John's Eye about two Stella Units out from the star sir,” explained the assistant, “there was a bright flash and then…”</p><p>“Oh my god,” Scott muttered as he pressed his eye to the eyepiece of the telescope, “there’s something there!”</p><p>“Yes sir!” agreed the assistant as Harry stepped closer to the telescope hoping to get a look at what everyone was so excited about.</p><p>“Put it on the repeater,” ordered Scott.</p><p>With a loud click the electric light went out and Harry found it was too dark to write; instead he concentrated on the ‘Repeater Table’. One of the assistants did something to the telescope and suddenly a picture of the night sky appeared on the table's, white, reflective surface.</p><p>“There do you see it?” it took Harry a moment to realise what Scott was talking about.</p><p>“What do you think it is, Professor?” Harry asked slowly; looking at the table he saw a new, faint star near St John’s Eye the brightest star in the night sky.</p><p>“Ooooh,” Scott scratched his head, “I’m not sure but it’s probably just another meteor or asteroid, we’ll have to watch it for a while before we’re sure.”</p><p>“Will it hit us?” Harry wanted to know.</p><p>“Doubtful,” Scott shook his head slowly, “but it’s too early to tell for sure…”</p><p>“You don’t think its one of our neighbours popping around for a beer or two do you?” Harry chuckled.</p><p>“What!?” Scott blinked at him owlishly for a moment before he burst out laughing, “Oh! Yes I see! Very amusing Mr Brown, very amusing indeed, HA!”</p><div class="center">
  <p>0=0=0=0</p>
</div><b>Aboard the 'Black Freighter'.</b><p>Amy Madison had not started out wanting to be a Pirate Queen, but as they say, some people have greatness thrust upon them and things had really been thrust upon Amy over the last few years. First she'd been catapulted forward in time into some sort of Wild West reality where women were <i>women</i> and men were little better than animals. Here she'd made a good living as a travelling witch (magic being more common and accepted in her new reality). Things had been going fine until she took the commission off that rancher to help take down the local 'evil' sheriff.</p><p>It was only later that she'd found out that the so-called 'evil' sheriff was in fact Buffy Summers that she'd realised something was amiss. Now, Amy didn't really have any axe to grind with Buffy, it was Willow Rosenberg she had issues with. So, like the basically decent young woman she was, she tried to smooth things out between Buffy and the rancher, but the rancher double crossed everyone and screwed everything up big time. Then just as Amy was casting a teleportation spell to get herself out of the gunfight that was going on all around her there'd been a terrific explosion and Amy suddenly found herself in the corridor of a starship hundreds of light years from Earth. Once again thrown into a situation that threatened her life, Amy managed to convince the pirates that she was valuable to them and not to throw her out the nearest airlock.</p><p>Time passed, as it does, and Amy was accepted by the pirate sisterhood as one of the crew and 'Ship's Witch', she even found herself a steady girlfriend. Everything was good until she was sent on a mission to pave the way for a great pirate attack on a planet to steal valuable mineral elements (worth several times their weight in gold). It was then Amy found out that her pirate lover and the ship's captain were trying to kill her. Why this was Amy never could work out. Since she'd been aboard the pirate vessel she'd been nothing but loyal, hard working and liked by the crew. After many adventures Amy fell on her feet, again, ending up with a new and far superior partner and a promotion to Pirate Queen.</p><p>Her ex-lover had been cast adrift in a life pod with thirty days food, water and air; she'd been cast adrift in an inhabited system so there was a chance she'd be picked up by a passing ship. The ex-captain had been executed, not for trying to kill Amy and several very junior pirates, but for stealing the loot of her pirate crew. Life aboard a pirate ship was odd like that.</p><div class="center">
  <p>0=0=0=0</p>
</div>Turning at the sound of the lift door opening, Captain Rita Heywood commander of the pirate mothership, 'The Black Freighter' turned to see Queen Amy Madison and the queen's consort, Stella Stardust walk out of the lift to stand on the raised platform at the rear of bridge.<p>“Good afternoon, Ma'am,” Haywood took a few steps towards the Queen until she was standing only a couple of yards away from her, “I'm pleased to announce that all ships have transited into normal space from FTL without loss.”</p><p>“Good,” Amy smiled, the first part of her plan to form a 'Pirate Nation' appeared to have gone off without a hitch; the plan had originally been that of the previous captain, but she'd made the mistake of coming between a pirate and her loot; Amy was cleverer than that, “You scanned the system for Ally warships?”</p><p>“Of course,” Heywood nodded; it was highly unlikely that the Terran Alliance would have warships this far out in space but it was always wise to check; there could always be a wandering exploration ship in the system.</p><p>“And?”</p><p>“Apart from a few local radio broadcasts from the target planet there's no sign of the Alliance or other interference in this system,” Heywood reported.</p><p>“Good,” Amy repeated, but this time she smiled warmly at the Captain, “now how long will it be before we make planet fall?”</p><p>“If we're following your plan, Ma'am...”</p><p>“Which I think we will,” Amy said, “I see no reason to change a perfectly good plan, do you?”</p><p>“No, Ma'am,” Heywood shook her head.</p><p>“Oh lighten-up Amy,” Stella, the Queen's consort said, “you're beginning to sound like one of those silly 'Evil Over-ladies' you keep going on about.”</p><p>“I am?” Amy looked from the Captain to her Consort, while the Captain kept her face expressionless, Stella gave her Queen and lover a knowing look.</p><p>“Yes you are,” Stella explained, “now you don't want to get a reputation as a tyrant now do you?”</p><p>“No...” Amy knew what might happen if the pirates under her command thought that she was turning into a tyrant, it involved a long piece of rope and a leaky vacuum suit, “...right so we land on the forth planet to exercise the troops,” Amy continued while trying to sound as little like a tyrant as she could, “then on to the third planet, which will take us how long, Captain?”</p><p>“Including the time spent on the forth planet, five or six weeks,” Captain Heywood told her, “it'll take us about a week to get to the forth planet.”</p><p>“That long?” Amy asked.</p><p>“Yes, Ma'am,” Heywood noted the disappointed look on the Queen's face.</p><p>“Oh well,” Amy forced a smile, “it can't be helped.”</p><p>“And its such a good plan,” Stella pointed out, “it would be a shame to change it.”</p><p>“True,” Amy nodded, she'd really not thought about how frustrating a possible six week gap between arriving in-system and starting the invasion might be, “Right!” Amy smiled regally at the Captain, “I'll leave things in your more than capable hands, Captain.”</p><div class="center">
  <p>0=0=0=0</p>
</div><b>The road to Waking.</b><p>Having left the observatory just before dawn, Harry had climbed into his shiny, new, Lanchester tourer and headed for home. It was a good road all the way between the observatory and Waking where he lived with his wife. The Lanchester would cruise quite happily at sixty-miles-an-hour and as there'd be little traffic on the road to slow him down he expected to be home in about an hour.</p><p>Turning into Long Acre Drive where his house stood, Harry was pleased to note that he'd completed the journey in a little over fifty minutes. He was also pleased to see that there was a light on in the downstairs living room, this meant that his wife would be up and waiting for him. Parking the car on the road outside his house, Harry collected together all his notes, got out of the car and headed up the garden path, noticing as he did so that the grass needed cutting, he'd have to remind George the handyman to get the mower out before the weekend.</p><p>Feeling in his pocket for his house keys Harry found them and slipped the front door key into the lock. Opening the door he stepped into the hall and smelt the welcoming aroma of frying bacon. Obviously his wife was cooking breakfast, it'd always puzzled him how his wife seemed to know when he was on the way home, but then he'd always considered himself lucky to have such a beautiful and talented woman for a wife, he wondered what he'd done to deserve her.</p><p>“Buffy I'm home!” he called as he took off his jacket.</p><div class="center">
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</div>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <b>The Brown Residence, Waking.</b>
</p><p>One moment Buffy had been riding along the Sanmara-Sunnydee road and the next she'd found herself naked and alone in a stone circle; obviously somewhere a lot further away from Kansas than she'd been when she'd got up that morning. In those first few moments in this new world some odd thoughts had gone through her mind, like; where was she? Where were her clothes and all of her weapons, what had happened to her horse and was she doomed to always arrive naked in a new reality? </p><p>Having 'resigned' as the sheriff of Sanmara because the town's people had become a little weird and had turned against her, Buffy had ridden out of Sanmara determined to go to the small town of Sunnydee (which was situated near where Sunnydale had once stood) where she knew the sheriff and town slayer. A couple of years previously she'd helped defend the then village against an attack by a band of Injuns and their demonic allies.</p><p>Having reached a spot known as 'Dead Woman's Gulch' which was a dangerous section of road where the track went down the steep sides of a dried up river bed. Many riders had been killed or injured having had their horses slip and fall on top of them, she'd always meant to put up warning signs but had never got around to it. Having negotiated one bank she was about half way across the dry river bed when she could have sworn she'd heard a distant scream. This was followed by a sound not unlike water going down a plughole followed by the sensation of being the water going down the plughole. This was then followed by a slight bump as she landed on the grass in the middle of what was obviously an ancient stone circle.</p><p>Standing up, Buffy ignored for the moment the fact that she was naked as the day she’d been born and looked around at her new surroundings. Not only was there a lot of lush green grass, but there were trees too and dry stone walls and more trees and birds-like creatures and insects (which were becoming a problem as they buzzed around her head) and a total lack of monsters or people trying to kill her, which Buffy considered a major plus.</p><p>Hearing the sound of metal against metal, Buffy had walked over to the nearby dry stone wall and looked over the top. The sight that greeted her eyes was most perplexing. There sitting next to a rather old fashioned looking tractor was a man tinkering with a hammer and wrench as he disconnected a piece of farm machinery from the tractor. This was very strange, Buffy told herself, because in the world she'd been living in, men were kept locked up in cages (they were all homicidal rapists after all) and used for breeding purposes only.</p><p>The sight of this farmer and his tractor rapidly convinced Buffy that she wasn't where she'd started out from when she'd had breakfast that morning. The farmer, it turned out, was a nice man by the name of Ernest Thistlethwaite who lived with his wife, Doris in a nearby farm house. He lent Buffy his jacket (which covered her embarrassment and several other things as well) and took her home where he left her in the hands of his wife who made her a big mug of hot, sweet, milky tea and a large bacon and egg sandwich. Realising how hungry and thirsty she was, Buffy devoured the food and drank the tea in record time while Mrs Thistlethwaite, found her some clothes to wear.</p><p>That evening over their meal the Thistlethwaite's explained how every twenty or thirty years or so someone would appear in the old stone circle. Most often the person to appear would be a young woman like herself, in Ernest's grandfather's time a wild man had appeared who'd killed several local women before he'd been hunted down by the local squire and his gamekeepers and shot dead. As far as the Thistlethwaite's knew, Buffy was the first person to appear in the circle for thirty years or more. Strangely the Thistlethwaite's didn't seem curious about where Buffy had come from, for which she would be eternally grateful, nor did they seem inclined to tell the local authorities about her, Buffy got the impression that something 'bad' might happen to her if they did.</p><p>Over the next few weeks, Buffy helped Mrs Thistlethwaite around the farm, learning how to milk a cow and collect eggs from the rather aggressive free range chickens that terrorised the cats in the farm yard. For her work, Buffy received all her meals, a bed in a small but comfortable room and seven shilling and sixpence, three farthings which was the going weekly rate for an unskilled female farm labourer.</p><p>The mention of shillings and pence plus the fact that her hosts spoke heavily accented but understandable English almost convinced Buffy that she was in fact in England. Often, when he was in a reflective mood, Giles would talk about his homeland. But while there were similarities between what Giles had told her and where she was right now it wasn't the same place. For a start all the technology was very old fashioned. The Thistlethwaite's didn't have a phone nor did they own a car. If they wanted to make a phone call which they never did because they didn't know anyone who had a phone, they had to walk or drive the tractor down to the village of Repton which lay about two miles away. Here there was a 'call box' and the local doctor had a telephone in his house as did the village policeman.</p><p>On her occasional trips to Repton with Mrs Thistlethwaite, Buffy often saw a motor car (which looked a little like one of those ones that gangsters drove in gangster films set in the 20's and 30's), there was the daily bus and on one memorable occasion Buffy and Mrs Thistlethwaite had stood in wonder as they watched an aeroplane fly over the farm. Mr Thistlethwaite was most annoyed that he'd missed it claiming that the last time he'd seen an aeroplane was during the war and that had been a Bavarian one which was trying to kill him! </p><p>However idyllic this life of a simple farm-girl might be, Buffy decided that she wanted to move on and see more of her new home. So after nearly three months on the farm and having saved most of her wages she wished the Thistlethwaites a tearful goodbye and walked to Repton where she caught the bus to Harrowgate the nearest big town. The trip cost her sixpence which might not sound a lot but a good breakfast would cost her about a shilling, so she decided that there'd be no more bus rides for her until she'd found herself another job.</p><p>Harrowgate was a largish town with a population of about thirty-thousand or so. It had a big railroad, or as the locals called it, railway station and a nearby bus station, the town seemed to act as a transport hub for that part of the country called North Yorvickshire there being a large industrial city called Yorvick about twenty miles away to the south.</p><p>The town of Harrowgate appeared to exist as somewhere for people to go to when they retired or came to take 'The Waters', the town was also a famous spa. With all the old, rich people coming to live in Harrowgate there were always posts open for household servants. However, Buffy didn't like the idea of being a maid. Not only would she have to start at the bottom as a maid-of-all-work, a situation she was a little old for and although all the jobs came with room and board, the pay was barely what she'd got working on the farm.</p><p>Eventually after finding a room in a respectable boarding house (no gentlemen callers please, at <i>any</i> time) Buffy got a job in a local Lyons café where she earnt two shillings and eight-pence-ha’penny plus one meal a day, for a nine hour shift, this was considered very good pay for a young woman with no skills or references. It was also where Buffy met her future husband, Harry Brown.</p><div class="center">
  <p>0=0=0=0</p>
</div>“Buffy I'm home!” Harry called as he took off his jacket and hung it on the coat stand in the hall.<p>Walking towards the kitchen from which came the sound and smell of bacon being fried, he almost bumped into his wife, which he always considered to be not a bad thing.</p><p>“Harry!” Buffy exclaimed as she gave her husband a good hug, “You're home...at last,” she stopped hugging her husband to give him a frown, “I hate it when you're away all night...breakfast?”</p><p>“Please,” Harry smiled as he admired his wife's rear as she walked away from him, she was still dressed in her nightdress and robe, both of which did little to hide her figure.</p><p>“Well, wash your hands and sit down then you can tell me all about what Professor Scott told you,” Buffy called as she went back to the stove and started breaking eggs into the frying pan.</p><p>As he washed his hands, Harry explained what had happened the night before. When he came to the part about the objects that had apparently just appeared on the outskirts of the solar system he thought he noticed a slight change in his wife's demeanour; she seemed to pause for a moment and when she turned to look at him there was a definite frown on her face.</p><p>“What's up?” Harry asked as Buffy placed his breakfast in front of him.</p><p>“Its probably nothing,” Buffy claimed, “but its been my experience that things don't just appear for no good reason.”</p><p>“Perhaps they, or whatever they are, appeared to give you a plot idea for one of your novels...” Harry smiled, “...Invaders from Space or something.”</p><p>“Maybe,” Buffy nodded; in the seven years she'd been on this world called 'Eden', she'd become a popular and wealthy writer.</p><p>Along with writing 'adventure stories' (based in main on her own experiences) Buffy also wrote outspoken articles for periodicals (mostly about women's issues, in many circles she was considered something of a 'radical') and had also published three rather successful cook books. Her husband had encouraged her to start writing when they'd first met and had helped her get her first collection of short stories published in a number of magazines.</p><p>“So what are you doing today?” Harry changed the subject before they got sidetracked by who the ‘space invaders’ might be.</p><p>“I've got to go up to Southminster to see my publisher,” Buffy replied, “I'll stay overnight at the mews flat,” they kept a small flat in the capital just in case either of them missed the last train and couldn't get home, “coz I've totally got to go shopping, what about you?”</p><p>“I'll read through the notes I made last night and start to type up my article,” Harry explained.</p><p>“Don't forget to get some sleep,” Buffy admonished him, “remember we're expected at the Meldrum's tomorrow evening.”</p><p>“We are?” Harry sighed heavily, he didn't feel comfortable mixing in society, he always felt he should be writing 'exposés' about the rich and 'annoying', “Why?” </p><p>“We've been invited to a poetry reading,” Buffy smiled as she explained, Harry hated poetry unless it rhymed and was funny or rude or all three.</p><p>“Oh god,” Harry seemed to slump down in his seat his breakfast forgotten for the moment, “do we have to? On the plus side I suppose I could catch up with my sleep while I 'listen' to the over-pretentious balderdash that passes for poetry these days.”</p><p>“Uh-huh,” Buffy nodded firmly, “we're both famous literary figures, so its a natural hazard of the lives we lead and I'm not having you snoring through the recital.”</p><p>“But poetry, Buffy, you know how I hate poetry,” Harry complained like a teenager, “couldn't you go by yourself and say I'm sick or busy or something?” he knew how his wife enjoyed such things so would never insist on her staying away just because he didn't want to go, “Anyway who's poetry is it being recited?”</p><p>“Aubrey Wilmslow,” Buffy replied.</p><p>“Oh god not him?” Harry shook his head in despair.</p><p>“I see you've heard of him?” Buffy smirked knowing full well that Harry's dislike of 'so-called' poetry knew no bounds where Aubrey Wilmslow was concerned.</p><p>“Sort of,” Harry finished his breakfast and put the plate in the sink for the charwoman to wash up later, “Emma Struthers....”</p><p>“The literary correspondent?” Buffy asked.</p><p>“The same,” Harry sat down again and poured himself another cup of tea, “even she thinks he's terrible...not a single rhyme in a poem twenty-thousand words long.”</p><p>“Well,” Buffy grinned at her husband's hangdog expression, “you've got to come with me, after all Teddy Meldrum'll be there and he has a terrible reputation as a womaniser.”</p><p>“You'll be safe as long as you don't go dressed as a domestic servant,” Harry shrugged, he also knew that for someone so short and petite looking as his wife, she was surprisingly strong so he wasn't overly worried about the younger Meldrum brother pressing his 'attentions' on his wife, “I think at the last count its five girls he's got in the family way...”</p><p>“Pregnant you mean?” again Buffy smirked, people didn't say things like 'pregnant' in the circles she moved in these days, it was always something like; 'in a certain condition', “I used to be a waitress remember, so maybe...”</p><p>“My dear Buffy,” Harry reached across the table and took his wife's hand in his own, “I know for a fact that if this Meldrum fellow tried to force himself on you, you'd knock his block off.”</p><p>“Of course,” Buffy agreed, “but I'm much rather have you there to defend my honour.”</p><p>“No doubt Lord Meldrum will be there?” Harry changed the subject to the older Meldrum brother.</p><p>“Sure will,” Buffy replied, “I looked him up...”</p><p>“You did?”</p><p>“Yes, you know I always do my research...” Buffy paused as she recalled the information to her mind, “...Colonel George, Lord Meldrum DSO, MC,” she began, “The eldest of the two Meldrum brothers is a respected member of the gentry. He married the only daughter of Lord and Lady Southwick and they had two children prior to his wife's death...”</p><p>“Be a bit difficult to have two children after his wife's death,” Harry pointed out.</p><p>“You'd be surprised,” Buffy replied darkly before continuing, “He was a Lieutenant Colonel in the Army during the Avalon-Bavaria war when he served as the commander of an infantry battalion during the Eastern Isles campaign...” </p><p>“And for such a duffer he surprisingly didn't get too many of his own men killed,” Harry added, like most men his age, Harry was a veteran of the Great War.</p><p>“Whatever,” Buffy shrugged, “he's noted for his old-fashioned values, with a respectable title and position in society. He's also the owner and director of the Imperial Rubber Company.”</p><p>“He's respectable if you discount his affair with Lady Agatha, wife of Sir Ralph Shawcross,” Harry pointed out.</p><p>“Oh!” Buffy frowned, “Are you sure? I thought I read somewhere that he'd been totally shot in the artillery during the war?”</p><p>“No,” Harry grinned, “I have it from reliable sources that his 'artillery' is still in perfect working order...”</p><div class="center">
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<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
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    <p>After exacting a promise from her husband not to stay up all day writing his article and to remember to eat, Buffy got herself ready for her trip to see her publishers in Southminster. After biding Harry farewell (he hardly noticed her going), she knew for a fact he'd stay up all day writing whatever she said or threatened, she grabbed her briefcase and headed on out the front door.</p><p>It was a bright, sunny day, if a little humid, so Buffy decided to walk to the station in Waking rather than wait for a bus or use the telephone to call for one of the town's half-dozen or so motor cabs. The walk took her about ten minutes and she arrived in plenty of time to buy her ticket and a newspaper from the 'W J Jones' newsagent in the station lobby. Stepping out onto the platform she noted that it was almost half-past-nine and most of the businessmen and civil servants who lived in Waking had obviously already gone to 'Town' because she was only one of about half-a-dozen people on the platform.</p><p>Sure enough the train arrived two minutes after Buffy had stepped out onto the platform, it was a big, powerful steam locomotive that hissed steam and smoke as it pulled into the station. Walking to the rear of the train, Buffy found herself an empty first class compartment. Opening the door she climbed aboard, stored her briefcase in the rack above the seats, sat down and made herself comfortable before starting to read her newspaper.</p><p>The main story this morning concerned a border 'clash' between Moscovite and Hokkaidonese troops over where the border between the two countries actually was. It was called a clash, but in reality the battle had involved four or five thousand troops on each side plus around a hundred tanks on the Moscovite side, no numbers were given for the number of tanks on the Hokkaidonese side. It seemed the battle was over some nameless hill (called Hill 40 in the newspaper) which overlooked an important 'road'; this road was probably a dusty track as the area was particularly under developed.</p><p>The battle started with a Moscovite armoured thrust which attempted to get behind the Hokkaidonese lines. But this was thwarted by stiff resistance from the Hokkaidonese infantry with their artillery firing over 'open sights'. This was followed by a Hokkaidonese counter-attack aimed at Hill 40 itself. For a time it looked like the Hokkaidonese would capture the hill but a heavy Moscovite counter-counter-attack led by tank reinforcements swept the Hokkaidonese from the objective. By the end of the day the Moscovite infantry and artillery were digging in on the hill while the Hokkaidonese withdrew to lick their wounds.</p><p>Silently, Buffy cheered for the Moscovites; Avalon (where she lived) had no argument with the Moscovites, while they did have several territorial disputes with the Hokkaidonese. None of these disputes had escalated to anything more than a few shots exchanged between border guards so far, but it did seem that the Hokkaidonese where attempting to take over that part of the planet which surrounded their home islands.</p><p>Letting her newspaper rest on her lap for a moment, Buffy looked out of the window. From her past journeys she knew that Western Station in the heart of Southminster was only about ten minutes away, already she could see more houses than trees as she passed through the suburbs of the greatest city on the planet. Other cities like Brunswick the capital of Bavaria came close but so far Southminster's seven million had not been surpassed.</p><p>Not long after Buffy had left the Thistlethwaite's farm she'd taken the time to research the history of Eden and had soon developed a theory as to why there was a planet with such a large human population so far from Earth. Her guess was that some advanced race, for reasons that weren't at first obvious had transplanted several human societies to the planet, probably around the time of the Black Death. Having studied the Black Death in high school (and by some wonder the information had stuck in her mind) she knew that in about 1345 the Black Death had swept across Europe killing about fifty percent of the population. If a large number of people simply disappeared it would hardly have been noticed. As the plague appeared to have started in Asia it was no surprise that the Hokkaidonese were the first Human society to appear on Eden. They were followed in rapid succession by the Moscovites, Bavarians and finally the English/Avalonians.</p><p>Other than as some sort of experiment to see how human societies developed or as an attempt to make sure that the humanrace didn't die out, Buffy had no idea why all these humans should be transplanted to Eden. Particularly when the planet had its own sentient population. A population of seven foot tall, dark brown, ork-like creatures who appeared to be stuck in the early Iron Age, and were also very war-like. Originally there were 'Ork' tribes all over the planet but as the forces of 'civilisation' had advanced the ork's numbers had decreased. After all there wasn't much you could do against an ironclad battleship or marines armed with machine-guns when all you had were bows and arrows...okay, they were very big, powerful bows but machine-guns were still 'better'.</p><p>Coming back to the present, Buffy saw that the train was pulling into Western Station. Standing up she took down her briefcase, folded away her paper and put it inside the case. By this time the train had stopped so she got out of the carriage and walked down the platform, had her ticket inspected by a bored looking ticket inspector before heading out onto the station concourse. The station was always busy, but at this time of the day (just after ten o'clock) it was slightly less crowded. It was even more humid now she was in town. Buffy decided to take a cab to her publishers rather than risk the underground electric railway which she knew from past experience would be like a sauna in this weather. Walking briskly across the concourse, Buffy headed towards the front of the station where the cab-rank was situated.</p><div class="center">
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</div>The Shambles were situated just south and east of Southminster cathedral. At one time it had been a den of vice and corruption (an uncharitable part of Buffy's mind noted its proximity to the cathedral and sniggered at what all those priests and nuns had got up to) any form of debauchery could be bought there for a price. Young men from so-called 'good families' would roam its fetid back streets partaking in any vice that took their fancy. Drugs, alcohol and prostitution was rife until one night, about one-hundred years ago the entire district had mysteriously burnt down. To this day no one knew for sure how the area had burnt to the ground. Some said it was a fire that started in a bakery, others contended that it was due to government agents equipped with boxes of matches and cans of petroleum spirit.<p>Nowadays The Shambles was a place of wide well lit streets, it was also the entertainment centre for the upper classes of Southminster. There were theatres, clubs, cocktail bars, dance-halls and even a few good, old fashioned pubs. It was also the perfect place for vampires to hunt. Once again vampires had appeared to try and ruin Buffy's life. When she'd first arrived on Eden she'd heard tales of terrible devils and demons inhabiting the dark corners of this world. But, it hadn't taken her long to discover that all these stories about monsters that roamed the night were just that...stories. However, the vampire threat was real, although, surprisingly, there were hardly any folk tails about them.</p><p>Whenever Buffy came 'up to town', which she tried to do at least once a week (more if her husband had been sent somewhere by his newspaper) and go out on the hunt to 'dust' as many vampires as she could find. Today was no exception, even if Harry was coming to town tomorrow that still gave her a night to stick bits of wood into Vampiric hearts, and if Harry questioned her as to why she spent the evenings in The Shambles she would just say that it was research for her next novel or that she'd simply gone to the theatre, so far Harry hadn't asked about or given any hint that he knew about her late night excursions. </p><p>The day had gone well so far; having gone to her publisher's office; they wanted her to write another cook book. This time they wanted her to write a book for young men who had absolutely no knowledge about how to cook for themselves having always had servants to do it for them. Young men like college students away from home and domestic staff for the first time. They needed to know simple things like, how to make a cup of tea, how to boil milk without getting boiling milk all over their flat, how to make baked beans on toast...how to make toast!</p><p>Telling her publisher that she would think about it, Buffy said she's let them know her answer in a week or so...this would also give her time to talk to Mrs Baxter, her cook, about the projected subject matter. After leaving her publisher's office she'd gone shopping in the West End. First she'd bought a new evening dress for the recital the next evening. Having bought the dress, Buffy told herself that she'd need some new shoes to go with the outfit. The shoes led to a new clutch bag to match the dress and even some new underwear. The dress was pretty low cut at the back so she'd need a bra that wouldn't show. Her new outfit cost her ten-pounds-sixteen-shillings-and-sixpence which was quite a lot of money (a maid in a big house earnt about a shilling a day) but Buffy was rich and felt that she could indulge her clothes and shoe craving every now and again.</p><p>After shopping she had a late lunch at Domville's, a famous restaurant frequented by the rich and famous (like her), before heading for the mews flat in Ridersbridge that she and her husband kept for their numerous trips to Southminster. Here she tried on all her new purchases before bathing and getting ready to go out hunting. The problem with hunting vampires in such a well to do area as The Shambles was that she needed to fit in with all the rich, young people that frequented the area and supplied food for the local vamps. The vamps, depending on sex, tended to either dress as rich young or not so young men or alternatively as prostitutes, Buffy shook her head at the unoriginality of Vampiric disguises.</p><p>Buffy had her own disguise, ever since her publisher had insisted on putting a photograph of her on the dust cover of one of her books, Buffy had had to disguise herself on her night-time hunting trips for fear that someone might recognise the famous author 'Bunny Winters' (her pen-name). A name, which on reflection, she now wished she'd not used. Being about thirty now; it was very hard to keep track of your age when you're being catapulted backwards and forwards in time and not knowing what the date was when you turned up in a new reality. Buffy had sort of calculated that she must be nearing thirty now, deduct a couple of years for perfectly natural vanity and she'd picked twenty-nine for her present age and a birth date in late December or the local equivalent.</p><p>So, she'd come up with the persona of Mrs Angle Farringdon the young wife of an older civil servant who worked at the War Office and neglected his young, attractive wife. Thus forcing her to go out at night to find sex, drugs and 'rock 'n' roll', not that there was any <i>real</i> rock 'n' roll on this world. The present local musical fad was something that sounded a little like jazz but wasn't. A black wig and heavy make-up disguised Buffy and turned her into Mrs Farringdon who wore the sort of clothes that Cordelia might wear, that is...slutty!</p><p>The dress she wore tonight was blood red (bound to attract a vamp) made out of some silk-like material which was quite expensive and just the sort of thing a bored wife might buy to punish her neglectful husband. It was daringly low cut at the front and went down to mid thigh, as she said to herself...just like something Cordelia would wear to a dance. Her outfit was completed with matching shoes and a clutch bag that was just big enough to conceal a stake. Glancing at the clock on her dressing table, she saw that it was nearly twenty o'clock, it was time to get a cab and head down to The Shambles.</p><div class="center">
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</div>The cab dropped Buffy off about fifty yards down the street from the Kit-Kat-Klub, one of a number of night clubs on Cherry Street. Standing on the pavement as the cab drove off to collect another fare, Buffy stood for a moment on the curb. Unlike Sunnydale, Southminster wasn't a particularly 'evil' place, there were certainly no Hellmouths here, she’d found it easier to sense a vampire, a skill that had almost completely escaped her back home. Closing her eyes for a moment she let the ambience of the place wash over her. Apart from a certain low level menace, which could as easily be caused by something human as Vampiric, she felt nothing unusual. Shrugging she turned before heading down the street towards the Kit-Kat-Klub.<p>As she walked Buffy took the time to watch all the rich young people as they laughed and headed for the first nightclub of the evening, or pre-theatre drinks. Since the war, industry had been booming with the rich getting richer and the poor getting a little less poor. There were more and newer things in the shops nowadays and prices were falling as industrial capacity increased. What this meant from Buffy's point of view was that people had more money to buy her books. It also meant that the allowances that the rich gave their offspring could buy more.</p><p>Being an attractive woman, Buffy didn't have to pay the cover charge to get into the Kit-Kat-Klub, it was sexist she knew, but she could live with it, the right to vote (women had got the right to vote a year after the war had ended) and hold public office was way more important than whether or not she had to pay a cover charge in a nightclub. The interior of the club was full of smoke from cigarettes as it began to fill up with people out for a good time.</p><p>Finding a table to herself Buffy looked around before ordering a drink, a cocktail that she'd make last for a couple of hours. There was a dance floor with one of those mirror balls things hanging over it. Different coloured lights played across the ball making multicoloured beams of light move across the, at the moment, deserted dance floor. There was a stage, the Kit-Kat-Klub had some good dancers and a couple of good singers along with a small orchestra to entertain its customers. Although the dance floor and stage were well lit the tables around the dance floor were all in shadow making it difficult to see anyone's faces, unless, of course, you had slayer eyesight. Sitting back in her seat, she sipped her cocktail and waited for the night's entertainment to begin.</p><div class="center">
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<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter 4</h2></a>
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  <b>The Kit-Kat-Klub.</b>
</p><p>It was nearly half-past-eleven and Buffy was beginning to think she'd wasted her time staking out the Kit-Kat-Klub. Perhaps she should have simply roamed the streets in her prostitute's disguise and just waited for a vamp to try and pick her up. But no, she wasn't in the mood to fend off the advances of rich, entitled, young men out for sex. So, she'd remained at the club and waited and now her patience looked like it was going to be rewarded.</p><p>A group of people had just arrived and taken their seats at a table on the opposite side of the stage from her. There was a man, who looked just a little older than Harry, he wore formal evening wear and had a monocle screwed into his right eye. Next came a young woman in a light blue dress with a red poppy pattern on it; she had brown hair done up in the latest fashion and a 'well developed' figure, not exactly fat but not thin either. She was accompanied by a young man, again in formal evening dress. He wore glasses and seemed a little 'wet' to Buffy. Next came another young woman, average height and figure, short, dark brown hair, expensive dark blue dress and just the right sort of accessories to go with it. Buffy thought she was a better dresser than the woman in the poppy patterned dress. Finally came a tallish, rather effeminate looking young man with short blond hair. He wore a quite 'Bohemian' outfit which included a dark red, velvet jacket and mustard yellow cravat, he also had a monocle in his right eye.</p><p>The party sat down and started ordering the local, white, sparkling wine that took the place of campaign on Eden. As the waiters brought the party their drinks, Buffy felt the familiar 'pull' of a vampire on her senses. Turning her head slightly she saw the cause of her unease. A vampire, a female one dressed like a very expensive hooker, the sort of hooker who could easily charge fifty pounds a night for the pleasure of her company. Fifty pounds being almost three years wages for a house maid.</p><p>Turning to the young man who'd been trying to get her drunk for the last hour and who was also trying to slide his hand up her dress for at least the same amount of time, Buffy smiled sweetly and said...</p><p>“Go away, I'm an undercover police woman and if your hand goes one inch further up my thigh I'll break your fingers just before I arrest you!” the finger breaking she could do, not so much with the arresting so she really hoped the fellow would take the hint.</p><p>“Oh...” the young man's eyes grew round with surprise, “...I'm most terribly sorry and all that...”</p><p>He started to stand up and take his leave.</p><p>“Oh, don't worry about it,” Buffy smiled good naturedly, “you were good cover for me...” she pointed towards the exit, “...now go!”</p><p>The young man hurriedly backed away from Buffy and almost collided with another table before turning around and making for the door. After checking that he was in fact leaving, Buffy directed her gaze once again towards the party of rich people and the vampire hooker. The vampire appeared to be directing her attentions towards the young, effeminate looking man. He, while apparently paying attention to the young woman in the blue dress would glance away from her to look at the vampire hooker every few seconds or so.</p><p>After about ten minutes the party got up to dance leaving the older guy by himself. Instead of moving in on the man left at the table the vampire stood up and headed for the dance floor. With a look and probably a flash of her fangs directed at the woman in the dark blue dress the vampire 'cut-in'. The young woman, stood for a moment in confusion before heading back to her table. The vampire took hold of the effeminate man and started to dance with him while at the same time steering him towards the door that led to the kitchens.</p><p>Standing up, Buffy put her bag across her shoulder before reaching inside for her stake. No one had seemed to notice, except for the woman in the blue dress, that one of their party was being taken away. Moving across the dance floor, she pushed people out of her way, seeing that the dancing couple were nearly at the kitchen door she increased speed as much as she dared. A waiter appeared from the kitchen and the vampire pushed her partner through the open door before it had a chance to swing shut.</p><p>Shoving a waiter with a tray of drinks out of her way, Buffy made her best speed towards the kitchens. Going through the door, she found herself in the hot, brightly lit interior of the kitchen, turning to a chef in stained 'whites' she demanded to know if a couple had come this way. Pointing silently towards the other side of the kitchen the chef stood back to let her pass. Cutting a swathe through the chefs, kitchen porters and waiters, she made it to another door. Pushing the door open, she found herself in a dark, smelly, ill lit alley.</p><p>Hearing the sound of a struggle, Buffy made her way further down the alley and around a corner where she found the effeminate guy fighting with the vampire. What brought Buffy to a premature halt and stopped her jumping in with her stake out and ready to plunge into the vamp's black heart was the fact that the blond guy was not only holding his own against the vampire but he also looked as if he was winning!</p><p>Backing into a dark shadow Buffy watched as the effeminate young man broke the vampire's hold on him and then tossed her across the alley to collide with the wall of the next door building. Unperturbed by this setback, the vampire bounced back to her feet and rushed at the man leading with her fangs. He hit her several times in quick succession before producing a stake from under his jacket and plunging it into the vamp's chest. Standing back the young guy watched as his attacker turned to dust that hissed as it fell to the ground like grey rain.</p><p>Keeping to the shadows, Buffy stayed perfectly still as she watched the young man straighten his jacket and cravat before putting away his stake. He was just about to walk back to the kitchen when he stopped and looked directly at Buffy who now realised that she'd been spotted. This should have been impossible, only another slayer could have eyesight capable of penetrating the Stygian darkness of her hiding place.</p><p>“I say...” as soon as Buffy heard the young man speak she knew he wasn't a guy, the blonde woman in men's clothing spoke again, “...its alright, you're safe now, she's gone...tried to steal my wallet then she ran off, don't-y'know.”</p><p>Buffy said nothing while making sure that her own stake was safely hidden away in her bag.</p><p>“Ha!” the male impersonator laughed, “I'm afraid I've made quite a fool of myself tonight, anyway no harm done...” when Buffy still didn't speak, the young slayer simply shrugged and headed back in the direction of the kitchen door, “...I'll wish you a good night then.”</p><p>In a moment the other slayer was gone and Buffy was left standing alone in the alley. Deciding that she wouldn't be returning to the Kit-Kat-Klub tonight, she turned and walked along the alley until she came to a main street. Almost too distracted to notice she was taken by surprised when two male vampires sprang out of the shadows at the end of the alley and were able to get in a few good hits before Buffy struck back. Wasting no more time she quickly reduced the vampire muggers to ash before stepping out onto the well lit street and hailing a passing cab.</p><div class="center">
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</div>Sitting in the back of the cab, Buffy tried to come to terms with there being another slayer in town. After a moment or two's thought she decided that she shouldn't be surprised. If there were vampires and this was in fact a transported human population as she’d always suspected, it wasn't beyond possibility that at least one potential slayer had been transported to her new home. No doubt when the human population was placed on Eden as there was no slayer the potential came into her powers. This gave Buffy pause for another thought. A potential came into her powers only after the previous slayer had died, or at least that was how it had always worked. The idea that another girl could be slayer while the slayer on Earth was still alive (at least Buffy assumed she was alive) suggested that whatever made a potential change into a slayer had to have a limited range. When she thought about it, it seemed obvious as Eden was probably 'loads' of light years from Earth.<p>Arriving at the mews flat in Ridersbridge, Buffy paid off the cab fare, she also gave the cabbie a large enough tip to persuade him to heed her advice about how he'd never picked her up that night. The cabbie took the money and touched the brim of his cap before driving away. No doubt thinking that she was someone's wife who just happened to have a lover. Checking up and down the mews to make sure no one was watching her, she quickly unlocked the front door and stepped inside. Switching on the lights she made her way up to the main bedroom where she removed her disguise. Taking off her clothes in front of the mirror she noticed a couple of bruises on her arms and ribs. Cursing softly to herself she realised that if they didn't fade by the morning, she'd need to have a good excuse for Harry as to how she'd got them. It would need to be a <i>really</i> good excuse because Harry was an excellent investigative reporter who could generally smell a lie a mile off.</p><p>After showering, Buffy put on a robe and headed downstairs to the kitchen where she made herself a sandwich and a drink. The day before she'd sent a telegraph message to Mrs Harper, the woman who looked after the flat when neither herself or her husband was there, to tell her to restock the fridge and larder with some basic items, milk, cheese, bread, tea, coffee and so on. With a plate holding a cheese and ham sandwich in one hand and a cup of tea in the other, she sat down at the kitchen table and thought about what she should do about the other slayer.</p><p>The girl had seemed awfully young to Buffy even with her male disguise. The male disguise was easy to explain now Buffy thought about it. Unless you wanted to dress like a woman of 'easy virtue' society frowned on young women of good character wandering the night by herself, so, the easiest way of getting around social mores was to dress like a young man. Her mystery slayer appeared to be pretty slim so it was easy for her to pass herself off as a man. The next question was what she should do about the slayer. Well, that was easy, Buffy told herself, she'd have to find her and introduce herself.</p><div class="center">
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</div><b>Aboard the Black Freighter.</b><p>The Replicant that carried the soul and who looked very much like Cordelia Chase walked into Queen Amy's command room. The compartment was empty of anyone other than Amy and her consort Stella. Smiling and nodding a greeting to Stella, one time famous interplanetary actress and singer, Cordy went to stand over by the holographic map table and waited for Queen Amy to finish reading the report on her hand held computer.</p><p>Long ago, Cordy was unsure exactly how long ago it was what with all the time travel and almost complete destruction of civilisation as she knew it, she had died. However, just before she'd died Wolfram and Hart, evil lawyers to the underworld, had stolen her soul. They'd somehow kept it safe through centuries of upheaval, death and destruction until about a thousand years later they'd sold her soul to the Tyrell Corporation to put into one of their experimental Replicants. There had been a flaw in the make up of the Replicants and Tyrell Corp believed that they needed a 'soul' to make them function properly.</p><p>The experiment had not worked out so well for Tyrell Corp; Cordy had started to remember things that didn't fit in with the false memories she'd been given. Eventually she'd broken the control on her mind, fought off an attack by Shedu raiders who'd killed most of the crew of the exploration ship she was on; finally she'd destroyed the mind of the ship's AI that had been tasked with monitoring her actions.</p><p>Now in control of an exploration ship with her partner, Pat Rawlins the ship's Archaeologist, they were just about to set course for somewhere outside the Alliance where they could sell the ship and disappear when The Black Freighter came on the scene and captured them. At first Queen Amy was all for tossing Cordelia out of the nearest airlock, she had issues with Cordy about cheerleading. However Stella had intervened on Cordy's behalf so she wasn't thrown out into the cold vacuum of space. Instead Cordy found herself in command of about twenty young slayers and replicants who eventually became Amy's bodyguards, the life of a pirate queen being more dangerous than Amy had at first imagined.</p><p>Standing at the map table, Cordy looked up at the big globe of the Third Planet which they would be attacking in seven or eight weeks time. As it often was, Cordy's brow was furrowed as she thought about something that had really been bugging her since the idea of taking over the planet had been put to the crew.</p><p>“What I totally don't understand,” Cordy began when she saw Amy had finished reading her report, “is why we have to attack this planet?”</p><p>“The fourth planet's too cold,” Amy began to explain, “its right on the outer edge of the 'Goldilocks Zone' and although its got a breathable atmosphere and liquid water, its not a nice place. So, unless you want to freeze your tits off its not the place for us.”</p><p>“Also no one lives there,” Stella added, “so there's no infrastructure for us to exploit, so, we'd have to build everything from scratch.”</p><p>“Okay,” Cordy conceded the points, plus she'd never liked the cold, “so, why don't we land on the third planet in one of the non-human areas?”</p><p>“For the same reason we don't want to set up on the fourth planet,” Stella explained as she noticed her wife was losing her patience, “one day the Alliance will be coming after us, we need somewhere with an educated population and an industrial base to act as a foundation so we'll be able to fight off the Alliance when they come.”</p><p>“So there's like no way of doing things without a fight?” Cordy asked.</p><p>“Not without going deeper into 'The Black',” Amy replied, “and since when were you not ready for a fight?”</p><p>“Oh I'm totally ready for a fight,” Cordy explained, “I just don't like the idea of having to fight women who've got no real chance of winning against us.”</p><p>“Intercepts of their radio broadcasts would suggest that there's several wars going on down there,” Stella pointed out, “so, they're not that innocent. After the conquest there'll be planetary peace.”</p><p>“Until, like the Alliance turns up,” Cordy pointed out.</p><p>“Y'know there is something a little weird,” Amy said as she gazed up at the holographic globe.</p><p>“What's that, sweetheart?” Stella asked.</p><p>“Have you noticed that the voices of the radio announcers all sound a little odd?”</p><p>“Probably distortion,” Cordy explained.</p><p>“Yeah, probably,” Amy nodded, “okay, lets go over the plans for the initial landing...”</p><div class="center">
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<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Chapter 5</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <b>Buffy and Harry's flat, Ridersbridge, Southminster.</b>
</p><p>Waking up the following morning, Buffy got out of bed and was pleased to discover that all her bruises and scratches from the previous night’s excitement had faded to nothing. So, there'd be no having to think up convincing explanations to tell her husband why she appeared to have taken up boxing. Having never been very good at making up stories to explain away the injuries that life as a slayer invariably threw in her direction, Buffy wondered why? She was good at thinking up plot lines for her novels so why couldn't she come up with a believable reason as to why she had a black eye for instance?</p><p>Sighing at the unfairness of the universe, Buffy headed for the bathroom. Ten minutes later she was downstairs in the kitchen making herself a light breakfast. As she boiled water for tea and watched her egg boil and her toast toast, she wondered how to explain these activities, things that she did almost without thinking, to someone who'd never done them before. The cookery book for novices that her publisher wanted her to write looked like it could be an unexpected challenge.</p><p>After placing her pot of tea, boiled egg and toast on the kitchen table she went out to the front door to collect the morning newspaper. Sitting down and pouring her tea, Buffy scanned the headlines. It seemed that hardly had the dust settled after the Battle of Hill 40 that the Moscovites had attempted to seize a couple of bridges over the Jade River where a road (rutted, dusty track) crossed the river to a large island. The Moscovites claimed that the border ran along the eastern bank of the river which would make the island inside their territory. This time the Hokkaidonese managed to repel the Moscovite assault and take possession of both bridges and the island. The 'Stop Press' (the actual story concerning both battles had taken two or three days to get to Southminster's papers) informed her that both sides had returned to the conference table after this short period of blood-letting. No doubt the next time the border negotiations stalled the tanks would be rolling again.</p><p>Shifting her attention to a piece about the economy, after all if people didn't have spare money they wouldn't buy her books, Buffy read how the standard of living was still improving. Yes, it was improving more for some people than others but it was still going up and the conditions under which the working classes laboured and lived were getting better almost day by day.</p><p>Having finished her breakfast and read the paper, Buffy cleared away the breakfast things before heading on back upstairs. As she dressed her mind kept on going back to that cook book and the challenge it would provide her. Deciding she'd tell her publisher that she would write the book she decided that as soon as she'd put the finishing touches to her latest novel she'd start work on the cook book...now just how did you explain how to boil water without scolding yourself?</p><div class="center">
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</div><b>Professor Scott's Observatory.</b><p>“Are you sure that these figures are correct?” Professor Scott looked down his impressive nose at the short, young, female undergrad who was helping out at the observatory.</p><p>“Yes Sir,” the girl replied nervously, “I checked them several times myself and then had one of the postgrads check my figures,” she handed Professor Scott a series of photographs taken through the main telescope.</p><p>Flicking through the exposures, Scott noticed what appeared to be 'flaring' from the objects now heading towards Arawn the next planet out from Eden. Sighing he shook his head, what the photographs and the typed sheets of calculations appeared to be telling him was not only impossible but preposterous. He looked up at the young woman who waited anxiously for the ‘great’ professor’s judgement on her work.</p><p>“I want you to go and show these figures to Doctor Fletcher...”</p><p>“But Professor...!” the young woman cried.</p><p>“I'm not doubting you young lady,” Scott replied with a slight grin, “I just want these figures checked again so there can be no possibility of a mistake, now run along and do what I've told you.”</p><p>“Yes sir,” the girl replied as she turned away and went off in search of Doctor Fletcher and leaving Scott with the photographs. </p><p>Producing a magnifying glass Scott looked carefully at the images of the 'Meteors'. They'd been acting in a most un-meteor-like way since they'd first been spotted just over a day ago almost as if they weren't meteors at all. Scott started to wonder if that newspaper chap who'd been interested in the possibility of life on other worlds might be interested in these developments. After all it wasn't every day you discovered meteorites that appeared to slow down, change course and then accelerate again!</p><div class="center">
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</div><b>Buffy and Harry's flat, Ridersbridge, Southminster.</b><p>This, Buffy told herself, was what those Socialist activists probably called decadent. Here she was, lying in bed, after having some pretty energetic sex, with her husband on a weekday afternoon with her not giving a damn for the poor, struggling, working classes. Of course she <i>did</i> give a damn for the struggling working classes but not when there was sex on the table (and on the sofa, the stairs, in the shower and finally in the bed!). After all she had a reputation as a 'radical' to uphold particularly in the area of 'Planned Parenthood'.</p><p>“I had a most curious phone call from that Professor Scott chap before I left home this morning,” Harry announced as he lay in bed next to Buffy.</p><p>“Hmmm? Professor Scott?” Buffy mumbled half asleep.</p><p>“You know that astronomer chappie,” Harry clarified.</p><p>“Oh him,” Buffy frowned for a moment, “the guy who keeps my husband up all night, what about him?”</p><p>“You remember I told you about those meteors that appeared suddenly?”</p><p>“Uh-huh.”</p><p>“Well, it seems they slowed down, changed course and sped up again, what do you make of that?”</p><p>“Erm...” somewhere at the back of Buffy's mind alarm bells started to sound, “...weird...just how big are these things?”</p><p>“Didn't think to ask,” Harry replied, “does it matter?”</p><p>“Like...yeah!” Buffy sat up letting the sheet fall away from her breasts, “Like what if they totally fall on top of us!?”</p><p>“Unlikely,” Harry replied, for some reason Buffy appeared more than normally concerned, he could tell, she started saying 'like' and 'totally' more often than she normally did, “they seem to be heading for Arawn.”</p><p>“Arawn?”</p><p>“Next planet out,” Harry studied his wife's face before letting his eyes drop to her breasts, “you know sometimes I wonder at you...”</p><p>“You do?” Buffy turned to look down at her husband, “Why?”</p><p>“You're odd...” Harry began but was soon silenced.</p><p>“Odd am I?” Buffy said with faux indignity, “Right you're cut off, no more sex for you!” </p><p>“Oh you know what I mean!” Harry laughed; Buffy's warning held little fear for him, she could never deliver on her threats. “You're an intelligent woman, yet you don't know what Arawn is...I mean even little children have heard of Arawn.”</p><p>“I was never very good at astronomy,” Buffy explained as she swung her leg over her husband.</p><p>“Or delivering on your threats?” Harry laughed as he placed his hands on his wife's hips.</p><p>“Sorry,” Buffy sighed as she felt her husband go hard between her legs, “where sex is concerned, especially sex with my husband, I'm just a paper tiger.”</p><p>“A paper what...?”</p><div class="center">
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</div>The next hour or so went by far too quickly for Buffy. Not only was Harry a good, no, make that a <i>great</i> lover he was also like the Energiser Bunny', he just kept going and going and... Sometimes she wondered if all men on Eden were as good as her husband or had she just lucked out and got a good one? Since she'd been transported to Eden she'd had sex with exactly one man and he was lying right next to her now, so, she'd no information to form a theory. A little part of her mind suggested that perhaps she could do a survey on male sexual performance, perhaps make it part of her campaign for 'Planned Parenthood'.<p>“Hey!” Buffy said as she turned her head to look at the bedside clock, “It's time we got up and dressed for that recital...”</p><p>“Dressed?” Harry groaned in disappointment, “Do we have to?”</p><p>“I think the Meldrums might complain if we turned up at their house naked.”</p><p>“I thought this was supposed to be an avant-garde do,” Harry explained, “and turning up naked would show just how much we didn't care for the niceties of polite society.”</p><p>“Stop stalling,” Buffy got out of bed and slipped on the robe she'd carelessly discarded as she'd leapt into bed several hours earlier, “I'm going for a shower...”</p><p>“Oh damn!” Harry cried out as he watched Buffy's reverse strip-tease, “I forgot the invitation, we won't be able to go, so...come back to bed!”</p><p>“Just as well I put it in my purse...” Buffy replied as she headed for the bathroom, “...or not.”</p><div class="center">
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</div>“That dress is new, isn't it?” Harry asked forty minutes later as he watched his wife's reflection in the mirror of her dressing table.<p>“Sure is,” Buffy replied as she stepped into her dress, “it was on sale and I saved nearly £2!”</p><p>“I don't care,” Harry turned to appreciate his wife's new outfit, “and new shoes and if I'm not mistaken that was new underwear too.”</p><p>“The problem with having a husband who notices your new outfit or hair style is that he notices your new outfit or hair style! Why can't you be like other husbands and not notice when I've been splashing out on new clothes and shoes?”</p><p>“Its my trained reporter's eye, my love, it misses nothing!”</p><p>“Whatever,” Buffy went over to tie Harry's bow-tie, “shall we call a cab or take the Lanchester?”</p><p>“Cab,” Harry gathered Buffy in his arms and kissed her on the forehead, “I've a feeling I'll need to drink a lot to get through tonight and as you've often told me, driving and alcohol don't mix!”</p><p>“Glad to hear that you actually listen when I'm lecturing,” Buffy grinned, “now finish getting dressed while I call for a cab.</p><div class="center">
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</div><b>The Meldrum’s Residence, Winterfair, Southminster.</b><p>The motor cab dropped Buffy and Harry in the street just outside the Meldrum residence. The town house belonging to the Meldrum's was a grand, white painted three story house set in its own, small, but well tended gardens. There was even a policeman on duty outside the gates, he seemed to be there to control the small crowd of scruffy boys that had congregated around the gate and to salute the guests as they made their way across the gravel drive towards the front door.</p><p>“I wonder how much he's being paid for making Meldrum look more important than he actually is?” Harry asked his wife in a whisper as they walked by the policeman.</p><p>“You mean he's being paid by Meldrum to stand about and salute people?” Buffy asked in mock dismay.</p><p>Before Harry could go into his well practiced rant about all the petty corruption that was rife in the Southminster Police Force they reached the front door.</p><p>“Now play nice and be on your best behaviour,” Buffy advised her husband as she pulled the chain that worked the door bell</p><p>No sooner had the doorbell started to ring than the door was opened by a tall, dark haired, well built footman dressed in the black and yellow livery of the Meldrum family. He greeted them politely and scrutinised their invitation before taking their coats. Next he passed their coats on to a bespectacled maid in a black dress and the invitation to the butler. The butler was a short, rotund man in a black evening suit who appeared to be being strangled by the stiff collar of his white shirt. The butler gestured for them to follow him down the hall corridor to a double door which lead to a room from which came the sound of muted conversation.</p><p>“Where's the bar?” Harry whispered in Buffy's ear making her giggle.</p><p>“Play nice,” Buffy hissed in reply as they stopped at the door while the butler read their names off the invitation.</p><p>“Captain Harry Brown, MC, and Mrs Buffy Brown,” the butler announced before disappearing back towards the front door.</p><p>No sooner had Buffy and Harry entered the room than the bespectacled maid from the front door reappeared this time bearing a tray of drinks.</p><p>“Fizzy wine?” the maid asked, Buffy recognised her accent as being similar to that of the Thistlethwaite’s.</p><p>“Thank god!” Harry gabbed a glass and downed it in one gulp before taking another.</p><p>“Thank-you,” Buffy said to the maid as she took a glass and smiled at the young woman, “I'm sure they don't call it 'fizzy wine'.”</p><p>“I know,” the maid smiled at Buffy and bobbed a curtsy, “but I can't pronounce the name...anyway the foods over there,” she gestured with her tray towards the buffet before bobbing another curtsy, “sorry I'd love to stay and chat but I've got work to do...”</p><p>With that the maid shot off at high speed weaving her way between the guests.</p><p>“What a funny girl,” Buffy sipped her drink as she looked around at the people already in the room, “see anyone you know?”</p><p>“Usual collection of the idle rich and their hangers on,” Harry replied, he was already half way through his second glass of 'fizzy wine'.</p><p>“If you get drunk,” Buffy warned in a low voice, “I'm not carrying you home.”</p><p>“I'm sorry, Buff,” Harry sighed, “but I just can't stand the sort of people that come these events.”</p><p>“But that's no excuse to drink too much,” Buffy replied.</p><p>“Y'know, sometimes you're no fun at all,” Harry pointed out, “if you weren't so damned sexy I'd never have married you.”</p><p>“And there was me thinking you married me for my mind,” Buffy sighed in faux despair.</p><p>“Ah, Brown!” the voice was that of Lord Meldrum who'd come over to talk to his guests, “And Mrs Brown,” he bowed slightly towards Buffy, “want to talk to you about that piece you did about rubber blight!”</p><p>Standing with glass in hand Buffy watched as Meldrum dragged her husband away, she was used to this by now, her husband was quite well known in certain circles and people were always wanting to have quiet words with him. However, before Buffy could even start to feel deserted another voice caught her ear.</p><p>“Mrs Brown?”</p><p>Turning with a smile on her lips, Buffy was just about to tell the young woman who'd hailed her to call her Buffy when the words died on her tongue.</p><p>“It is!” smiled the young woman in the boyish clothes and monocle, “I thought I recognised you!”</p><p>“Erm...” Buffy looked on in surprise as the slayer from the previous night shook her hand vigorously, “...yes and you are?”</p><p>“Cissy Meldrum,” the woman announced before turning to the young woman hanging on to her left arm, “and this is my best chum, Penelope Barrington-Blake...”</p><p>“Call me, Penny,” smiled the attractive young brunette in the very feminine dark green dress and pearls.</p><p>“I have to say its such an honour to meet you Mrs Brown...” Cissy gushed.</p><p>“Call me Buffy,” Buffy managed to say; she'd thought that she'd be able to sense another slayer but she was getting nothing, snapping back to the present she listened to what Cissy was saying.</p><p>“...I found your articles in Woman's Weekly, on Planned Parenthood most interesting and your 'Lizzie Fury' books were such an inspiration to me when I was younger, such strong female characters, so not the ‘fainting fannies’ you normally get in girl’s literature.”</p><p>“Thank-you,” Buffy managed to say.</p><p>“...when I heard you were coming,” Cissy continued, “I was so excited.”</p><p>“She was,” Penny agreed as she gave her 'chum' the sort of look that Buffy remembered Willow and Tara giving each other, “very excited, she could hardly contain herself!”</p><p>“I bet she couldn't,” Buffy muttered to herself.</p><div class="center">
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<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Chapter 6</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <b>The Meldrum Residence.</b>
</p><p>“Where have you been?” Buffy asked her husband in a hushed voice as they sat down, along with thirty or so other people, in the Meldrum's dinning room in preparation for the 'recital'. </p><p>“Oh, Meldrum senior was bending my ear about that piece I wrote on Rubber Blight,” Harry replied quietly as he tried to get comfortable on the hard backed dining room chair, “he seems to have got it into his head that I'm some sort of expert, but I really only know about as much as I wrote in the article.”</p><p>“Oh, poor Harry,” Buffy teased as she held on to his arm, “Jack of all trades, master of none...”</p><p>“What about you?” Harry asked ignoring his wife's attempts at mocking his chosen profession.</p><p>“I was chatting to Cissy Meldrum and her 'Chum', Penelope Barrington-Blake...” Buffy started to explain but was interrupted by Harry.</p><p>“Not <i>the</i> Barrington-Blake's?”</p><p>“There's more than one?” Buffy asked slightly confused.</p><p>“Of course,” Harry smirked, “but now I mention it, I do remember that old man Barrington-Blake does have a daughter who's slightly odd...you know he made his fortune by selling the government green paint during the war?”</p><p>“He did...?” Buffy blinked, “Odd? How odd?”</p><p>“Well,” Harry smiled knowingly, “she does go around with that Cissy Meldrum and Cissy is famous for being something of a Tom-Boy...”</p><p>“What with the dressing like a guy and having a totally attractive <i>girlfriend</i>...” Buffy added, “...and don't you think that 'Tom-Boy' is a totally silly way of describing a girl who acts like a boy? I mean, of course 'Tom' is a boy...”</p><p>“Now you mention it, yes,” Harry agreed, adding, “rumour has it they've been caught in bed together by the servants several times.”</p><p>“Well, I'm sure its like totally innocent,” Buffy pointed out; she had in fact noted the 'gay' vibe coming off both young women which was odd as she'd not been able to spot that Cissy was a slayer, perhaps it was because she'd lived for so long with Willow and Tara in her house?</p><p>“Look out,” once again Harry smirked, “looks like the 'turn's' about to start.”</p><p>Looking up, Buffy watched as the 'turn' arrived and was announced by the butler.</p><p>“Mr Hamish Kintyre,” a heavily bearded man in a white smock and tartan scarf hurried into the room; “Miss Lucille Pennhaligan,” a young woman in a 'gipsy' outfit (that no gipsy could possibly afford) appeared followed by, “Miss Francesca Dyke-Hardy...” a woman with short, dark, hair clutching a cello entered the room, much to Buffy's amusement.</p><p>“What are you giggling at?” Harry asked under his breath.</p><p>“Her name...Dyke-Hardy,” Buffy smirked.</p><p>“Don't be cruel to the unfortunate,” Harry advised her, “I'm sure she, and her friends, are more to be pitied than scorned.”</p><p>“...and Mr Aubrey Wilmslow,” a young man in a velvet jacket (not unlike the one Cissy Meldrum was wearing) entered carrying some sort of large, black, cone thing.</p><p>“Maybe he'll put it on his head so we can't hear the poetry,” Harry said hopefully.</p><p>“No such luck,” Buffy explained, “its a 'Singerphone', he speaks into it, its supposed to give the words 'roundness', now, behave!” she hissed as she jabbed her husband in the ribs with her elbow, “Look Meldrum senior's going to say something.</p><p>The tall footman, who'd been standing by the door, banged his hand on a sideboard to get everyone's attention as Lord Meldrum did indeed stand up and gave a short speech about not being 'stick-in-the-muds' and trying new things before handing over to his younger brother, Teddy. Looking slightly put out, Teddy Meldrum stood up and made his way to the front of the room before producing a card from his pocket, he glanced at it and started to speak.</p><p>“Erm...Aubrey Wilmslow first came to the attention of the critics, when he recited his compelling poem ‘Stark Naked’...”</p><p>Buffy wasn't the only person present to snigger into their hand at this point.</p><p>“...I mean,” Teddy Meldrum tried to correct himself, but made a hash of it, “his stark, compelling poem entitled, Naked...erm...” at this point Meldrum seemed to give up, he gestured vaguely towards the poet saying, “Oh, Aubrey Wilmslow...”</p><p>There was a polite round of applause as Wilmslow took his place behind the Singerphone and began to speak.</p><p>“Now this is my latest poem for voice and Singerphone and is called, <i>Lost souls, lost souls, wandering, wandering</i>.</p><p>Once again Buffy and one or two other people sniggered quietly. However, the room soon became completely silent as Wilmslow started to speak...</p><div class="center">
  <p>“Lost souls, lost souls,<br/>Wandering, wandering,<br/>Lost souls, lost souls,<br/>Pondering.”</p>
</div>Much to everyone's surprise the 'peanut chorus' sitting behind Wilmslow burst into life with a totally unexpected...<div class="center">
  <p>“Lost Souls, lost souls!”</p>
</div>...followed by Kintyre and Pennhaligan striking tambourines while Dyke-Hardy played a chord on her cello.<div class="center">
  <p>“Where to go? Where to go?<br/>Wandering, wandering<br/>They see the cliff ahead<br/>Is it the answer,<br/>Or just chalk?<br/>Is it the answer?”</p>
</div>Continued Wilmslow pausing only to let Kintyre, Pennhaligan and Dyke-Hardy have their say...<div class="center">
  <p>“Yes, yes, they cry! Yes, yes!”</p>
</div>These words were once again followed by an abrupt musical interlude.<div class="center">
  <p>“Or is it chalk?”</p>
</div>Wilmslow asked.<p>“NO!” cried the bootleg chorus, before hitting their instruments once more.</p><div class="center">
  <p>“Forward, over the cliff like yellow lemmings<br/>One by one, over, over-familiarity<br/>But the tide is out.”</p>
</div>“Has he finished?” Lord Meldrum asked his younger daughter Poppy rather too loudly.<p>“I think so,” Poppy replied uncertainly. </p><p>Following Meldrum senior's lead everyone started to clap enthusiastically. </p><p>“Brilliant!” Meldrum cried out loudly and with just a hint of relief.</p><p>“What was that about yellow lemons going over the cliff,” Buffy asked her husband.</p><p>“I think it was a metaphor,” Harry replied.</p><p>“What for?” Buffy asked not satisfied with her husband's reply.</p><p>“Damned if I know,” Harry shrugged.</p><p>Sitting there, Buffy truly hoped that the poem was over. However, Dyke-Hardy was playing something on her cello and as Buffy listened she was sure it was the theme from 'Jaws'; she tried to tell herself that that couldn't possibly be so. While 'Jaws' was being played an old women with 'mad' hair and dressed in mauve dress fought her way between the seated rows of guests to help herself to the gin in a decanter which had been carelessly left on a sideboard; Buffy wished she could join the old lady, the gin might numb her ears sufficiently for her not to hear the rest of the poem which looked as if it was about to re-start any moment...now!</p><div class="center">
  <p>“...crouching in a flowerpot<br/>Looking through the hole in the bottom,”</p>
</div>Wilmslow continued speaking through his Singerphone; right at that moment Buffy was having quite inappropriate thoughts on where she'd like to insert the Singerphone on Wilmslow's anatomy.<div class="center">
  <p>“In the bottom!”</p>
</div>Cried the chorus unwittingly reading Buffy's mind.<div class="center">
  <p>“I'm safe in my flower pot,<br/>I'll stay looking through the hole...<br/>In the bottom...”</p>
  <p>“In the bottom!”</p>
</div>Once again the group of Kintyre, Pennhaligan and Dyke-Hardy unknowingly outlined Buffy's plans for Wilmslow's impending demise.<p>There was more cello playing, but this time it did appear that Wilmslow had finished torturing his audience. As the cello played on, Buffy became more and more convinced that some how Dyke-Hardy had come up with the theme from Jaws.</p><p>“God I need a drink,” Harry told his wife.</p><p>“Remember no getting drunk,” Buffy reminded her husband, “or its the couch in your study for you!”</p><p>“No! No! Not the couch!” Harry replied in faux terror.</p><p>“You know,” Buffy said as she and Harry stood up, “that was really bad poetry...I mean I've heard a lot of bad poetry in my time, y'know with the literary life I lead,” she grinned, “you get to know bad poetry when you hear it. But that was something special...”</p><p>“Cruel and unusual poetry?” Harry smiled as he led Buffy towards where the tall footman was holding a tray of drinks.</p><p>“Yeah,” Buffy nodded as she accepted a glass of 'fizzy white wine', “it's the kind of poetry that should be banded under arms limitation treaties.”</p><p>“Poetry of mass destruction, you mean?” Harry downed a glass of bubbly wine in one gulp before picking up another glass.</p><p>“Its the sort of poetry that Vogons might come up with.”</p><p>“Vogons?” Harry asked intrigued.</p><p>“Totally evil monsters I'm thinking of putting in one of my Lizzie Fury books,” Buffy explained, “like I say they're totally evil and torture their victims by reciting totally bad poetry to them.”</p><p>“Diabolical!” Harry agreed.</p><p>“Mrs Brown?”</p><p>Turning slightly, Buffy found Cissy Meldrum and her 'chum', Penny standing at her elbow.</p><p>“Please call me, Buffy,” Buffy repeated with a smile.</p><p>“I was wondering...” Cissy began only to be interrupted by her 'chum'.</p><p>“Surely not like a lost soul going over a cliff?” Penny smirked.</p><p>“No!” Cissy cast her friend a sharp look before turning her attention back to Buffy, “I was wondering...”</p><p>“Wondering...” Penny said under her breath only to get another daggers look from Cissy.</p><p>“Sometimes Penny you are such a silly goose!” Cissy told her.</p><p>“But that's why you love me,” Penny replied while fluttering her eyelashes at Cissy.</p><p>“Okay...” Buffy spoke up before things went too far, “you were...speculating...” Buffy cleverly avoided using the word 'wondering', “...about something.”</p><p>“Nothing to do with lost souls then?” Harry asked, he was now on his third glass of bubbly wine.</p><p>“Couch!” Buffy replied sharply.</p><p>“Sorry my love,” chastened Harry shut-up.</p><p>“Right where was I?” Cissy said while giving her 'chum' a look that stifled any comment she might make, “Oh yes I was...speculating...on whether you'd be interested in joining the 'United Workers Party' and fighting for worker's rights.”</p><p>“Well...” Buffy hesitated.</p><p>“I've read all your stuff on women's rights and I think your ideas for setting up 'Family Planning' centres is just the sort of thing that the UWP would support.”</p><p>“Well...” once again Buffy hesitated, the UWP sounded 'socialist' and she wasn't sure that she wanted to get her work on women's rights mixed up with a lot of upper class neo-socialists ‘do-gooders’.</p><p>“Look,” Cissy looked earnestly at Buffy, “we can't talk here, why don't you join us in the drawing room where we can talk in private...” Cissy glanced at Harry who was half way through his forth glass of 'bubbly' in spite of what his wife had said about sleeping on the couch tonight, “...if your husband doesn't mind.”</p><p>My the tone of Cissy's voice Buffy could tell that she really didn't care whether Harry minded or not.</p><p>“No, you go on,” Harry waved his glass at Cissy, “don't mind me...I'll go swap war stories with Teddy Meldrum it seems we were in action on the same piece of front during the war,” Harry bent down to whisper in Buffy's ear, it would appear he wasn't as drunk as he was making out, “Take notes about these UWP people they sound like an interesting piece for the political desk.”</p><p>“Sure,” Buffy smiled as she answered both Harry and Cissy's questions.</p><p>Gesturing for Buffy to follow, Cissy lead her out of the dinning room and across the hall. Stopping at a set of large wooden doors Cissy opened them and waved Buffy and Penny into the room beyond. As soon as Buffy stepped into the room she knew there was something amiss. Turning to her right, she saw the maid from earlier struggling with a woman in an expensive dress.</p><p>“Oi! Get off!” cried the maid as she fought with the woman.</p><p>“Abigail Doomsville!” Cissy and Penny cried out in surprise and alarm.</p><p>Reaching inside her purse, Buffy's fingers closed around the metal tube that contained the spring loaded stake that she carried when she couldn't carry a full sized stake. Advancing towards the struggling couple, Buffy grabbed the well dressed woman by the shoulder and turned her around. In an instant she saw the yellow eyes and the lumpy forehead of a vampire, she saw the blood in her mouth and the blood on the maid's neck where she'd been bitten.</p><p>Without thinking Buffy pressed the release that let the powerful spring propel the stake forward into its 'stabbing' position. Then without further ado she plunged six inches of hard wood stake into the vampette's withered, black, evil heart. With a surprised cry, Abigail Doomsville, blood sucking socialite turned to ash and floated gently down to lie on the carpet.</p><p>“Close the door!” Buffy cried as she knelt down next to the maid, she felt for a pulse; finding that the girl wasn't dead, Buffy placed some cushions from off the chairs under her legs to encourage her blood to flow to her head.</p><p>“Is she dead!?” Cissy cried with genuine concern as Penny hurried to close the door, Cissy then looked at Buffy, “How did you know what to do?”</p><p>“Because I'm like you, but I'm betting I've been doing it for a lot longer,” Buffy replied as she once again checked the maid's pulse.</p><p>“I don't know what you mean,” Cissy claimed unconvincingly.</p><p>“Don't be so coy,” Buffy replied, “I saw you dust that vamp behind the Kit-Kat-Klub.”</p><p>“That was you!?” Cissy exclaimed, “But...”</p><p>“I was in disguise,” Buffy smiled, “I was like totally surprised at seeing another slayer at work.”</p><p>“A what?” Cissy asked.</p><p>“Slayer,” Buffy repeated, “I guessing you don't know about that?”</p><p>“No,” Cissy shook her head.</p><p>“So what do you call herself,” Buffy wanted to know; Cissy looked embarrassed and didn't say anything.</p><p>“She calls herself a 'Fury',” Penny called from over by the door, “like the character in your books.”</p><p>“Are you a, erm...Fury?” Buffy asked Penny.</p><p>“No...thank god,” Penny replied with exaggerated relief, “I just follow her around giving love and support where I can, I also do a curtain amount of bandaging and covering bruises with make-up.”</p><p>“Yeah,” Buffy sighed knowingly, “that's the life of a slayer's friend.”</p><p>“Poor Ivy,” Cissy said as she took hold of the unconscious maid's hand.</p><p>“Ivy?” Buffy asked.</p><p>“She's the maid here,” Cissy explained, “a sweet girl if a little slow on the up-take.”</p><p>“Which could be totally useful when we have to explain why your maid is lying on the drawing room floor,” Buffy pointed out, “I'm guessing not everyone knows about you being a slayer or fury, right?”</p><p>“It's not something I like to tell everyone,” Cissy agreed, she turned to look at Penny, “Go find Stokes the Butler and tell him that Ivy's had an accident and to come quick.”</p><p>“At your command,” Penny opened the door and went in search of the Butler.</p><p>“So, what do we say happened here?”Cissy looked at Buffy</p><p>“Is Ivy clumsy?” Buffy wanted to know.</p><p>“A bit,” Cissy nodded.</p><p>“Good,” Buffy smiled, “we'll say she stabbed herself accidentally with a barbecue fork...”</p><p>“A what?” Cissy frowned.</p><p>“Oh, that won't work,” Buffy thought hard for a minute, “I know, we'll say she fell on a toasting fork.”</p><p>“No one'll believe that!” Cissy said in surprise.</p><p>“When you've slayed vamps for as long as I have you'd be surprised at what people believe,” before Buffy could say anything else the door opened to admit Penny and Stokes the Butler.</p><p>“Ah Stokes!” Cissy said as she got to her feet, “Ivy's had an accident and stabbed herself with a toasting fork, “get her up to her room and have Mrs Lipton put a dressing on her neck,” Cissy looked at Buffy and received a nod confirming she was doing the right thing.</p><p>“I don't think she'll need a doctor,” Buffy added, “but she better have someone check in on her every now and again and she better get at least twenty-four hours bed rest...”</p><p>Once Ivy had been carried away and the ashes of Abigail Doomville had be surreptitiously swept up and dumped into the fire place, the three women sat down around the fire.</p><p>“I've just had a totally brilliant idea,” Buffy announced.</p><p>“You have?” Cissy replied cautiously.</p><p>“Yeah,” Buffy continued, “how'd you like to come down to my house in the country one weekend?” she asked, “I'm betting you don't get to spar with another slayer or fury, right?”</p><p>“No,” Cissy shook her head, “as far as I know I'm the only one.”</p><p>“Maybe,” Buffy agreed, “I can give you a little training and you can help me with a project of my own.”</p><p>“Well, I don't know,” Cissy glanced at Penny.</p><p>“Penny can come too,” Buffy said noticing the look the two women were giving each other, “we've got a nice spare room with a double bed...” Buffy added, “...come on, it'll be fun!”</p><p>“What about servants?” Penny wanted to know.</p><p>“No servants,” Buffy said firmly, “it'll just be us girls.”</p><p>“What about your husband?” Cissy wanted to know.</p><p>“Oh don't worry about him,” Buffy laughed, “I'll deal with him!”</p><div class="center">
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<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Chapter 7</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <b>Buffy and Harry's flat, the next morning.</b>
</p><p>The morning after the recital, Buffy and Harry sat at the breakfast table reading the newspaper after a light breakfast. They'd arrived home from the Meldrum's recital at just after midnight, after showering together they'd gone to bed; Buffy having relented about her threat to make her husband sleep on the couch. Apart from any other considerations, Harry was no where as near as drunk as he'd appeared to be.</p><p>“What's Teddy Meldrum like?” Buffy asked as she sat down and picked up her newspaper.</p><p>“Typical bally ass,” Harry replied.</p><p>“Would you care to expand on that?” Buffy suggested with a smile.</p><p>“You know the sort...”</p><p>“Pretend I don't,” Buffy put down her paper and started to spread marmalade on her toast.</p><p>“Let me see,” Harry sighed, “too much money and not enough sense. Waste of a life really,” Harry continued, “Went to one of the best schools, so he couldn't have been a complete duffer because he got into a good university just after the start of the war. Got conscripted a year or so later. From what I've heard he made a pretty good officer, kept most of his men alive most of the time. At the end of the war he was a captain in command of an infantry company, anyway he left the army and joined the ranks of the idle rich.”</p><p>“Not one of your favourite people then?” Buffy bit into her toast as she glanced down at the headlines, there was no new news from the Muscovite-Hekkaidoese border.</p><p>“Well...” Harry came out from behind his paper for a moment, “...he's not really such a bad cove, he's brave enough...he's one of those people who doesn't think twice about walking around in an artillery barrage because it doesn't enter his head that he might get hit!” Harry paused for a moment before continuing, “But at the moment he's terrified that he might have to marry that Madge Cartwright woman...”</p><p>“You mean the heiress to the Cartwright Soap empire?” Buffy used Cartwright soap herself.</p><p>“That's the one.”</p><p>“Why's he 'terrified'?” Buffy wanted to know.</p><p>“Well, good old Teddy would rather be chasing servant girls and getting them in the family way.”</p><p>“Oh my!”</p><p>“Its been five at the last count that his brother's had to pension off,” Harry explained, “Meldrum senior has threatened to ship Teddy off to the colonies to oversee some rubber plantation in the back end of beyond if he doesn't marry Madge.”</p><p>“Wow,” Buffy replied quietly, “I almost feel sorry for him, rumour has it the Madge Cartwright is a total man-eater.”</p><p>“So,” Harry looked over the top of his section of the newspaper at his wife, “what was all the fuss in the drawing room after that awful Wilmslow fellow had stopped torturing everyone with his poetry?”</p><p>“Oh...” Buffy lowered the fashion section she'd been reading, “...Cissy Meldrum was trying to recruit me into this United Workers Party of hers.”</p><p>“You told her no of course?” Harry asked, “Those UWP people are complete scoundrels...they wear socks with their sandals!”</p><p>“Heaven forbid!” Buffy replied in mock horror, “Anyway I didn't get the chance because one of the maids tripped and fell on a toasting fork!”</p><p>“Careless,” Harry commented, “leaving toasting forks around for people to fall on I mean.”</p><p>“Totally,” Buffy agreed, “after that there wasn't much recruiting and anyway I'd not join, some of their ideas might be well intentioned but it would cut into the time I use for my Women's Issues work.”</p><p>“I think your work is more important,” Harry agreed.</p><p>“Oh and talking of Cissy Meldrum,” Buffy said as she put down her paper, “I was wondering if you'd mind if I invited her and her 'chum' Penny to spend a few weekends down in Waking with us.”</p><p>“I have to ask why?” Harry let his newspaper rest on the table and raised a questioning eyebrow.</p><p>“Like, I've had this idea,” Buffy began, “I've decided to write that cook book for beginners but I thought I'd expand it into a sort of survival guide for the totally-terminally-helpless.”</p><p>“Sounds like a good idea,” Harry nodded, “and you want to use Cissy and her 'chum' as white-mice.”</p><p>“Something like that,” Buffy replied, “and why do you say 'chum' in that tone of voice?” </p><p>“Same reason that you do,” Harry replied with a grin.</p><p>“I do not say anything in 'that' tone of voice,” Buffy claimed.</p><p>“Do!”</p><p>“Don't!”</p><p>“As you'd say, whatever,” Harry continued, “it's obvious isn't it?”</p><p>“Maybe?” Buffy was fairly sure what her husband was talking about but wanted it confirmed before she committed herself.</p><p>“They're both 'vixens',” Harry said.</p><p>“Vixens?” Buffy had never heard the word used to describe young women before.</p><p>“At last a Women's Issue you don't know anything about,” Harry smirked.</p><p>“Then like totally explain,” Buffy frowned.</p><p>“A 'vixen' is a young woman who prefers the 'close' company of other young women.”</p><p>“Oh!” Buffy laughed, “Like totally, but 'vixens'?”</p><p>“Male version is a 'Fox',” Harry pointed out helpfully.</p><p>“A fox?” Buffy couldn't help laughing at the weirdness that was language, “And you don't mind?”</p><p>“Oh, no,” Harry said as he poured more coffee for himself and Buffy, “I knew a couple of chaps back in the war who weren't what you'd call exactly in love with the female section of society. Other than that they were jolly respectable fellows.”</p><p>“And vixens?”</p><p>“Can't say I've ever knowingly met any,” Harry replied, “so having Cissy and her <i>chum</i> around for the weekend will be an education for me.”</p><p>“So, you don't mind having the house full of women?” Buffy laughed.</p><p>“Oh there's a point,” Harry frowned, “and what if I find you in bed with Cissy and her 'chum'? No! I totally forbid it!”</p><p>“And you'll stop me how?” Buffy asked knowing her husband was only joking.</p><p>“By appealing to your common sense...if such a thing exists,” Harry said unknowing echoing Giles' words to Buffy from long, long ago.</p><p>“Yeah like that's goin' to happen,” Buffy smirked.</p><p>“Totally...” Harry added with a grin of his own.</p><div class="center">
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</div><b>At about the same time aboard the Collective Star-Super-Dreadnought, 'Buffy the Great'.</b><p>Floating in the vastness of space near a red dwarf star the crews of the six massively powerful starships prepared themselves for the task ahead. A task on which the entire fate of the universe might very well rest. Victory would bring the dawn of a new age of peace and enlightenment, defeat would herald the beginning of a new 'Dark Age' from which humanity might never emerge.</p><p>“You wanted to speak to the crew, Captain?” asked the First officer as the Captain of the Buffy the Great walked across the bridge to her command chair.</p><p>“Have they been alerted?” the Captain asked</p><p>“Yes Ma'am,” the First Officer nodded her head.</p><p>All across the 'Buffy the Great' crewers looked up expectantly awaiting their captain's words.</p><p>Back on the bridge the admiral commanding the task force stepped from the lift that had brought her from her day cabin, she walked over to join the captain and the first officer.</p><p>“Captain Buffy 312-850,” the admiral began formally, “if it's totally okay with you I'd like to speak to the ship's crew.”</p><p>“As you wish, Admiral,” Captain Buffy saluted before stepping back and glancing at her first officer and rolling her eyes.</p><p>“Thanks...” Admiral Buffy cleared her throat before starting to speak, “Officers and ratings of the 'Buffy the Great', this is Admiral Buffy your task force commander. I can now tell you we are totally like going out into 'The Black' to attack 'The First's' forces. We are going to totally kick his ass right outta the galaxy and like destroy his ships until he's so totally scared he won't let them outta his sight! Okay, its like true we're totally like only six ships, but the universe has totally never seen such ships much. You'll be fighting in the largest, soooo most wickedly powerful super-battleship in known space, totally superior to anything in The First's fleet. We are faster, like totally more heavily armed and armoured and we are BUFFYS! You cadet officers, you were like selected by the admiralty to like make this voyage. When you go back to the fleet, you'll have many totally wicked stories to tell, stories of Collective space power, stories of Buffy victory! To all of you I say this...never forget that you are totally Buffys, never forget that you are like The Collective...Hail Buffy!”</p><p>Stepping away from the command chair, Admiral Buffy turned to look at Capitan Buffy and asked...</p><p>“That last bit, too much?”</p><p>“Meh...” replied the captain with a shrug.</p><div class="center">
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</div><b>The University of Southminster's Observatory about two weeks later.</b><p>“HA! Brown!” boomed Professor Scott as he moved across the observatory like an unstoppable force of nature, “Glad you could come,” he said as he pumped Harry's hand like a sailor trying to save a sinking ship, “Read your piece on the long term effects of the meteor strikes, good work, nothing sensational!”</p><p>“Thank-you,” Harry retrieved his hand and tried to massage some feeling back into it, “I try to stick to the facts and leave 'sensationalism' to the blue tops.”</p><p>“Quite right too,” Scott boomed again before unexpectedly lowering his voice, “I have something I think you'll be interested in seeing,” he continued in what passed for a whisper in Scott's world, “come to my office and we can talk...there's too many flapping ears out here.”</p><p>Following Scott, Harry went out through a door, along a corridor then up three flights of stairs until they came to another door which Scott unlocked before gesturing for Harry to enter the room beyond. The room was in fact Scott's office, it was full of bookcases carelessly stuffed with books and papers, some of the reading material had overflowed onto the floor leaving only narrow pathways across the room. There was a huge, heavy dark wood desk which completely dominated the room, this too was piled high with loose papers, files and notebooks. There were only two chairs in the office, a large leather covered one behind the desk and a slightly smaller one in front of it. Behind the desk was a large picture window looking out over the observatory grounds and up at a large section of sky.</p><p>“Sorry about the mess,” Scott apologised as he took his seat and gestured for Harry to sit down, “but I find it an effective method of preventing prying eyes from going through the books as it were.”</p><p>“You have a problem with prying eyes, Sir?” Harry asked as he reached for his notebook.</p><p>“Not until recently,” Scott admitted, “its all part of what I wanted to talk about...by the way this is all off the record...”</p><p>“Of course,” Harry put away his notebook with a disappointed sigh, his reporter's instincts were sensing a major story.</p><p>“Remember those meteorites?” Scott began.</p><p>“The ones that popped into existence and then slowed down, changed course and speeded up again?”</p><p>“Those are the ones,” Scott nodded, “well, that's not all they did...”</p><p>“Go on,” Harry encouraged.</p><p>“As I mentioned to you in our telephone conversation,” Scott continued in a hushed tone, “and by the way, I don't think we need to discuss this over the telephone again...remember those prying eyes? Well, there may well be prying ears too.”</p><p>“I see,” Harry nodded, obviously Scott had discovered something important about these meteorites that some people might find 'inconvenient'; the truth was always 'inconvenient' to people who's job it was to tell lies.</p><p>“Anyway,” Scott took a deep breath, “for about the next three days the 'meteors' continued to accelerate and then, by god, they started to decelerate!”</p><p>“How's that possible?” Harry demanded.</p><p>“Well, it isn't,” Scott replied, “so of course we checked our figures and confirmed what had happened. You can imagine my surprise when instead of crashing into Arawn they went into orbit around the planet...”</p><p>“But that's...” Harry was about to say impossible again but found it unnecessary.</p><p>“Impossible?” Scott said with a wry smile, “My dear boy, I'd have agreed with you two weeks ago, but now I'm not so sure.”</p><p>“I take it you continued to keep these objects under close observation,” to be honest Harry didn't like where this conversation was leading, but his reporter's instincts kept him glued to his seat.</p><p>“Of course!” Scott laughed bitterly, “We even booked the Fillingdale Observatory in the hopes of getting clearer photographs of these objects. I could only get enough of a grant to book the telescope for a week but it paid off...”</p><p>“And what did you see?” Harry wanted to know, “Did you get any photographs and more importantly, will you show them to me?”</p><p>“Of course,” Scott started to rummage about in the piles of papers and files on his desk until he came up with a large, cardboard backed envelope; he removed some photographs and handed them over to Harry, “It wasn't until the objects passed between Arawn and Eden that we were able to take such detailed shots...what do you make of them, Mr Brown?”</p><p>“They're...they're not meteorites are they Sir?” Harry found that his hands had started to shake as his heart beat faster.</p><p>“No...” Scott shook his head slowly, “...in fact I think those pictures prove that they aren't natural objects. I would stake my reputation on them being manufactured artefacts controlled by some kind of intelligence.”</p><p>“Looks like those 'primitive' people on other planets that we talked about couldn't wait for us to drop by for tea.” Harry half joked.</p><p>“Indeed...” agreed Scott, “...there are in fact twenty-nine of them, we estimate that the largest of them is about a mile long while the smallest we're able to detect is about two-hundred-and-fifty yards long. There also seem to be numerous smaller craft which show up as specks on those prints; they actually show up better on the negatives. They appear to be moving from the larger craft to the surface of the planet. Also, if that's not enough to convince you, the larger craft are moving in formation...”</p><p>“Oh my god!” Harry gasped as his mind tried to come to terms with the new information, “Have you told anyone about this?”</p><p>“Not yet,” Scott explained, “the Alderman is a personal friend, we went to university together. I'm going to present the facts as I see them to him this weekend.”</p><p>“Do you think that's wise?” Harry wanted to know.</p><p>“Not really,” Scott shrugged, “but if this is some sort of threat I think the government should be informed as soon as possible whatever the risk might be to myself.”</p><p>“There are people in the church who aren't going to like this,” Harry pointed out.</p><p>“I know, dear boy,” again Scott laughed, this time sadly, “some of the more hard-line clerics would still deny that aliens existed even as they landed in Parliament Square, which is why I called you in.”</p><p>“Me?”</p><p>“Indeed,” Scot leaned towards Harry, “if anything should happen to me...say, an unfortunate motor accident or my mysterious disappearance I want you to publish everything...”</p><p>“Everything?” Harry asked with a puzzled frown, he had no evidence to publish.</p><p>“Don't worry, Mr Brown,” Scott started to look through a draw in his desk, “I have copies of all my findings, more photographs,” he opened another draw and resumed his search, “all the technical data, everything you'll need to make the powers-that-be sit up and take notice...if I can find the damn things of course!”</p><div class="center">
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<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Chapter 8</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <b>The surface of the Forth Planet (Arawn).</b>
</p><p>Stepping delicately between the bodies, Amy lifted the hem of her gown so as not to get blood on the fine material; being 'The Queen' forced her to wear impracticable clothing even on trips such as this.</p><p>“Oberst Von Rommole,” Amy demanded as the officer in question stood to attention in front of her, “what in the Hellmouth happened here!?” </p><p>The Forth Planet, or 4Plan as it had come to be known, was on the outer edge of the 'Goldilocks Zone' and as a result was mostly snow, ice and frozen tundra. However, the equatorial band was heavily forested with a climate not dissimilar to Washington State on Earth. As it had approached 4Plan the fleet had dispatched probes to survey the world and pick out good spots for running training exercises for the landing force. The probes hadn't really been looking for intelligent life so when some had been found no one was that surprised they'd been missed. The natives lived in about a dozen villages hidden in the trees of a particularly dense piece of forest, so it wasn't unexpected that their presence had remained unnoticed until a patrol had stumbled across one of the outer villages.</p><p>“Konigin Amy...” Oberst Von Rommole seemed to stand even straighter than she had been only a few moments before.</p><p>“Oh relax,” Amy sighed as she remembered what Stella had said about frightening her subordinates, “I'm not going to turn you into a rat or something,” Von Rommole looked visibly relieved, “just tell me what happened here.”</p><p>“Mien Konigin,” Von Rommole, who her mothers had named Helga, “at first the natives appeared friendly...very friendly in fact.”</p><p>“So, what went wrong?” Amy could in fact imagine what had gone wrong, no doubt one of her pirate soldiers had tried to skin one of the natives and use its pelt as a rug or something.</p><p>The natives were all between three and four feet tall, they were covered in fur ranging in colour from grey to brown or tan. They had large eyes, no doubt adapted for seeing in the half light under the forest canopy, snub noses and mouths full of large, white teeth. In fact the natives kind of reminded Amy of cute, animated teddy-bears. Studying the corpses of the dead natives that lay close by Amy noted that some of the natives wore leather capes that covered their heads and shoulders, no doubt as a precaution against the steady rain of water from the tree tops that seemed to be a feature in this part of the forest.</p><p>“At first, mien Konigin,” Helga continued, “ve tried to avoid them but they appeared to be seeking us out. I then decided that we should come to some sort of understanding vith these creatures. I vanted to ensure that none of them were accidentally hurt during our kriegspiel or that ve unintentionally destroyed one of their holy places. These being a primitive people appear to have a multitude of gods.”</p><p>Oberst Von Rommole had been a respected mercenary officer, she hadn't become so respected and successful by wiping out indigenous populations (unless they were demons of course). Having decided that her plan for planetary conquest needed properly trained soldiers, Amy had hired the best to train and lead the invasion force and the best was Oberst Von Rommole and her jägers. </p><p>“Uh-huh,” Amy nodded all the while wishing that Von Rommole would get to the bloody part of her story.</p><p>“The negotiations vent surprisingly vell, mien Konigin,” Helga continued, “so vell in fact that afterwards the native high chief invited us for a feast. Unfortunately it vasn't 'til later that ve discovered that the main item on the menu was us...”</p><p>“You mean they tried to kill and eat you?” Amy looked around, the only weapons the locals appeared to possess were stone bladed spears and axes.</p><p>“They didn't seem to be too bothered about the 'killing' part, mien Konigin,” Helga reported, “Mien offizer an' mien-self vere only armed with our sidearms and ve veren't vearing any combat equipment, but one of mien aides managed to call for help. Luckily the Quick Reaction Force arrived before we ran out of ammunition and were eaten.”</p><p>“So the QRF did this?” Amy gestured to the dead natives that appeared to carpet the forest floor.</p><p>“Only after a stiff fight, mien Konigin.” </p><p>“A stiff fight?” Amy asked, she was beginning to think that perhaps she'd employed the wrong mercenary officer to lead her troops in the up and coming invasion, if she could only subdue spear wielding natives after a 'stiff fight'.</p><p>“Jawohl mien Konigin!” Once again Von Rommole was standing at attention no doubt sensing the 'Queen' wasn't best pleased, “The natives had the area extensively booby-trapped...”</p><p>“Then why didn't your sensor scans pick up these booby-traps?” Amy demanded.</p><p>“Because, mien Konigin they vere made out of natural materials and showed up as nothing more dangerous than more forest!”</p><p>“Oh...” Amy calmed herself down a little, perhaps there had been mitigating circumstances, she nodded for Von Rommole to continue her report.</p><p>“Some of the booby-traps were in fact giant logs set up to swing down on anyone or anything that passed near them,” Helga explained, “that's how ve lost one of the combat support valkers...”</p><p>“WHAT!?” screeched Amy, the walkers had been expensive and difficult to acquire and now they'd lost one, “How?”</p><p>“The valker must have hit a trip vire unt set off a trap, two tree trunks svung in from either side of der valker and crushed it.”</p><p>“Goddess damn it!” Amy ground her teeth together in anger and frustration, each of her walkers had cost in excess of one-million D'lahs and a bunch of tree swinging primitives had managed to destroy one, “I hope you slaughtered the little bastards!”</p><p>“Of course, mien Konigin,” Helga reassured her queen, “at this very moment I have patrols out hunting down and killing the last few survivors. The natives were obviously some sort of demon so even the Allys can't complain that we killed them all. Also, I might point out that, shooting them individually is not only good training for the troops, but is more ecologically sound than nuking them from orbit.”</p><p>“Yeah, sure,” Amy agreed, “and we haven't got so many nukes that we can waste them on blowing up primitive demons.” Amy paused for a moment before asking, “There was something else you wanted to show me?”</p><p>“Of course, mien Konigin,” Von Rommole gestured towards a path that led off into the forest and away from the dead, cute, furry, demons.</p><p>Following Oberst Von Rommole, Amy noticed that they appeared to have picked up an escort, she observed several of the Oberst's jägers had fallen into protective positions around herself and the Oberst as they made their way through the forest. After no more than a couple of minutes walk Von Rommole led Amy out into a clearing under the canopy of leaves a couple of hundred feet above their heads.</p><p>“Close the front door!” Amy gasped at the sight that greeted her eyes.</p><p>In the middle of the clearing not fifty feet away from where she stood was a piece of high-tech architecture that hadn't been built by anyone with any connection to Earth. To begin with all the angles were wrong, which kind of gave her a headache if she looked at it for too long.</p><p>“What is it?” Amy asked.</p><p>“As best as our tech people can vork out it some sort of uplink platform, ve think the natives have been worshipping it...it appears to have been built sometime ago...a long, long time ago...”</p><p>“A long time ago?” Amy asked as she walked over to the 'uplink' and placed her hand on its smooth, stone wall and shivered before quickly taking her hand away.</p><p>“Are you alright, mien Konigin?” Helga asked with genuine concern.</p><p>“Yes! Why?” in fact Amy felt far from 'alright' in fact she felt very un-alright.</p><p>“You looked a little pale there for ein moment.”</p><p>“It's nothing,” Amy lied, “time of the month y'know?”</p><p>“Of course,” Von Rommole nodded, “vat do you vant us to do, vith the building I mean?”</p><p>“Find out what you can then seal it back up again,” Amy had been tempted to order the structure destroyed, but she was frightened that whatever or whoever had built it would notice its destruction and come looking for whoever had destroyed it. When she'd touched the structure she'd nearly gone into magical overload. The structure, or more correctly the entity that had caused it to be built, simply radiated evil. So much evil that the only thing that Amy knew that was that evil was the First Evil itself...and the Ewokes were in league with the First!</p><div class="center">
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</div><b>Buffy's house, Waking.</b><p>“As I see it,” Cissy announced as she observed the results of her latest attempt at 'cooking', “we need a taller saucepan.”</p><p>“It doesn't work like that,” Buffy replied as she bandaged Penny's right hand; the younger woman had attempted to remove the saucepan from the stove when she'd noticed the milk about to boil over; unfortunately she'd not used a cloth to grasp the metal handle and had burnt the palm of her hand, “it doesn't matter how 'tall' the saucepan is the milk will still boil over the top.”</p><p>“Why?” Cissy asked as she came over to comfort Penny while Buffy tied off the bandage.</p><p>“Erm...” Buffy struggled for an answer as she packed away her first aid box (which these days she kept close at hand at all times) eventually she came up with an answer which was in fact no real answer, “...physics.”</p><p>This answer seemed to satisfy Cissy.</p><p>“Do you think you can make us all a pot of tea without burning yourself or totally setting the house on fire?” Buffy asked with just a hint of sarcasm.</p><p>“Of course,” Cissy replied, “tea's easy.”</p><p>“If only,” Buffy muttered under her breath, “Come on Penny, lets go sit you down.”</p><p>“It hurts,” Penny held up her injured hand adding, “I hate cooking.”</p><p>“Boiling milk is hardly cooking,” Buffy pointed out as she put her arm around the girl's shoulder and guided her into the living room.</p><p>This was the first weekend that Cissy and Penny had come down to Buffy's house in Waking for training. The slayer training had gone surprisingly well, Cissy was an eager student and Penny saw the sense in being able to hold off a vampire long enough for Cissy to come and rescue her. It was the cooking and what Buffy was calling 'Life Skills' training that was causing problems. As she sat Penny down in a comfy chair, Buffy was going through all the, 'Safety Warnings' she was going to have to put in her new book.</p><p>It wasn't that Cissy or Penny were stupid, they were both bright, intelligent, young women, but they had spent their entire lives having everything done for them by nannies and servants. Okay, yes they'd caught on about making their bed; one of the reasons Buffy had been able to get both women to come down to the country was the promise that they could share a bed. So, in the morning and under Buffy's instruction they'd competently made the bed complete with hospital corners. It was only when Buffy had tried to teach them some basic kitchen skills that things had started to go wrong. </p><p>How, Buffy asked herself, could anyone screw up boiling milk or making a cup of tea? After all the years she'd spent in her new home, she was an accomplished cook, she wrote books on the subject when she wasn't writing her Lizzie Fury books. After all she'd never been that bad a cook back in Sunnydale, hadn't she cooked the Thanksgiving Dinner without help and despite of Spike and   Willow's constant arguing about the 'oppressed' Native Americans? Yes, she had and what was more no one had been injured in the process or suffered from food poisoning afterwards. Just as Buffy had got Penny settled, Cissy came in carrying the tea tray. As she put it down on a table, Buffy's eye roved over the tray, there was milk and sugar, tea cups and saucers, Cissy had even remembered to put a mat under the tea pot to protect the tray from the heat of the tea.</p><p>“I'll be mother,” Buffy said as he walked over to the table and gestured for Cissy to take over comforting Penny.</p><p>Lifting up the tea pot, Buffy surreptitiously felt the pot, it seemed to be hot enough. It was then that she noticed that not one of the items on the tray matched. Sighing a little as she poured the tea, Buffy wondered how Cissy had managed this undertaking, as far as she knew she only had the one tea service in the kitchen...and talking about the kitchen; she'd probably need to get one of the village girls in to scrub the kitchen clean before Mrs Baxter, her cook/housekeeper, arrived on Monday morning. After handing out the cups of tea, Buffy sat down again, she sipped her tea and was pleasantly surprised, maybe there was hope for Cissy...as long as she didn't have to boil milk.</p><p>“Okay, Cissy,” Buffy sat back in her chair, “tonight we're going to take a little trip to Little-Piddling-by-the-Marsh,” she forced herself not to giggle like a schoolgirl at the village's name, “a Mr Leatherby died under unusual circumstances,” she smiled, “another toasting fork accident, so there's a chance he might rise tonight.”</p><p>“A vampire?” Cissy asked, her face brightening at the thought of sending another vamp back to hell.</p><p>“Uh-huh,” Buffy nodded, “I'll make us a good meal and then I'll drive us over in the 'Mardling'...can either of you drive?”</p><p>“No,” Penny shook her head.</p><p>“No,” Cissy said before adding, “at least not a car, I'm taking flying lessons and I can ride a motorbike.”</p><p>“Hey,” Buffy laughed, “that's more than I can.”</p><p>“I don't know how you do it all,” Penny said from the depths of her comfy chair, “you're a famous author, a slayer, you campaign for women's rights while having a happy marriage, how do you do it?”</p><p>“Good time management and plenty of sex,” Buffy laughed at the shocked looks on Cissy and Penny's faces, “Where I come from its okay to totally talk about sex...not when the vicar comes around for afternoon tea of course, but in general and between friends it's okay.”</p><p>“So where do you come from?” Cissy wanted to know.</p><p>“A long way from here, in The Republic,” Buffy replied naming one of the planet's minor nations before deftly changing the subject, “okay, so tonight we stake Mr Leatherby as he rises from the grave. Its been a little chilly these last few nights so you better wrap up warm, and Penny you better stay home. You can listen to the radio and I've got loads of magazines you can read...”</p><div class="center">
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<a name="section0009"><h2>9. Chapter 9</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
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  <b>Aboard the Terran Alliance Star Ship Reluctant.</b>
</p><p>Sitting alone in her office aboard the 'Reluctant', General Kennedy read the latest intelligence reports. So far there had been no sign of The First's re-emergence, the event that Task Force 69 had been formed to counter. But, there was a report about a pirate fleet operating in a system a few light years outside Alliance controlled space. The Terran Intelligence Service thought that this particular group of pirates were setting up a base outside Alliance space to support raids on the nearby Alliance planets. There was even a rumour that the pirates might be trying to set up some kind of pirate state; Kennedy dismissed this rumour out of hand. It was unusual for pirate captains to co-operate, at best (or worst depending on your point of view) two or three pirate captains might work together but rarely for more than one mission.</p><p>On to other news, Kennedy thought as she put the pirate threat out of her mind. The Shedu were getting their asses collectively kicked. Ever since the Moosrab had joined the war and the Alliance had taken the decision to rearm and reorganise its ground forces, the Shedu were being forced back on all fronts. It would take time, you had to keep a sense of perspective, but there was now a very real possibility that the Shedu war would be over some time in the next three to five years. But it would only end with the destruction of the Shedu homeworld as well as all of its colonies.</p><p>Another piece of good news was that over the next week or ten days, TF69 would be receiving reinforcements. Star Force had dispatched all five 'Angle' class heavy destroyers to join the task force. This move could simply be SF High Command not knowing what to do with this new type of ship. With their four, fixed eight inch mass drivers, minimal point defence and small crew they were more like flying gun turrets than real destroyers. However they were fast and could stand off and destroy an enemy from long range while having the 'legs' to prevent any enemy ships closing with them.</p><p>Another Terran ship to join the Task Force would be the old battle cruiser, Queen Elizabeth the Fifth. The ship had recently been completely refitted with an up-to-date set of sensors and fire control systems. She'd also had all her original armament removed and replaced with dozens of 30mm Gatling guns, anti-missile-missile launchers, laser nodes and more counter-measure dispensers than you could shake a stick at plus some powerful jammers. With the QEV on station Commodore Adams (the officer commanding the space forces belonging to the task force) would no longer have to worry about enemy fighters and attack craft getting in amongst her troop transports and factory ships.</p><p>The best news, however was that the Moosrab heavy cruiser, CSS Virginia would be arriving either today or tomorrow. Kennedy smiled as she read the name of the ship. The Moosrab had adopted Terran names about four hundred years ago, before that they'd used numerical identifiers, she also wondered if the Moosrab knew more about Earth history from 'The Time Before' than they were letting on. The Moosrab had been a star-faring civilisation long before women from Earth had made their way back to the Moon.</p><p>Another thought about the Moosrab made Kennedy smile for a moment. If you wanted to project, ominous, death dealing competence the black and silver uniforms worn by Star Force were the way to go. However, the Moosrab Star Fleet seemed to have gone a completely different direction with their uniforms. Those tight, white outfits that they wore looked more painted on than actually worn. They also appeared to show off more green skin than they covered. Also, at least amongst the enlisted personnel, rank seemed to be designated by bust size! The bigger the bust the higher the rank, Kennedy suspected there was some surgical enhancement here. There was no denying it, from a Terran point-of-view (and it was a pretty nice point-of-view if green was your favourite colour) the Moosrab were weird!</p><p>“Whatever,” Kennedy shrugged her shoulders, whatever the answer was the Moosrab weren't, as usual, talking. </p><p>The CSS Virginia would be a big boast to the Task Force's fire power. Her six, eleven inch mass drivers and twelve five-point-five inch secondary armament could deal with anything short of a dreadnought. The Virginia also carried two, three tube missile launchers capable of firing the Moosrab thirty-six inch missiles, a hit from one of these weapons would in fact take down a dreadnought. Apart from all these devastating weapons the Virginia also had a full compliment of 23mm tri-barrel point defence guns, anti-missile laser nodes and tens of counter-measure dischargers</p><p>Accompanying the Virginia would be the light carrier CSS Chancellor Stephanie the Third. The Stephanie was similar in capabilities to the Star Force light carrier, The Mary-Rose. The Moosrab vessel carried forty-eight fighters which were comparable to the Mary-Rose's Star Furys. With the two carriers working together Kennedy was confident that they could keep the main battle line free of interference from enemy fighters. Glancing up from her desk, Kennedy noticed the time, then as if on cue Major Singh, her aide, entered her office.</p><p>“General?” Amber Singh said from over by the door, “I've just come to remind you about your fourteen o'clock.”</p><p>“Of course,” Kennedy dismissed all the documents from above her desk, “I'd almost forgotten,” she hadn't but she didn't want to upset her aide; good aides were hard to find and Amber was one of the best, so Kennedy didn't want her to feel as if she wasn't important, “send her in please.”</p><p>“Right away, General,” Amber replied as she left the room for a moment only to return with another woman wearing a Marine uniform, “Sergeant-Major Summers, General.”</p><p>“DAWN!” Kennedy cried as she rose from her chair and walked around her desk to greet the senior NCO, “It's so nice to see you on your feet again...”</p><p>Dawn had been seriously injured on what should have been a simple 'Hearts and Minds' mission. The small force under her command had been almost completely destroyed by a demonic raiding party a couple of months previously.</p><p>“...you're fully recovered?” Kennedy asked as she gestured for Dawn to sit down in one of the chairs in the conversation area.</p><p>“Yes thank-you, General,” Dawn sat down all the while thinking how strange it was to be talking to a woman whom she'd first met in Sunnydale when they'd only been two or three years difference in their ages; now Kennedy was over sixty while she was in her mid-twenties.</p><p>“Good,” Kennedy beamed, “I have an important job for you.”</p><p>“You have?” Dawn asked, “Like, thank the Goddess for that. I was beginning to feel like a fifth wheel in the platoon and every time Sergeant Hudson gives an order everyone looks at me. That's no way for a newly promoted platoon sergeant to have to work.”</p><p>“Once again you've proved I've made the right choice,” Kennedy laughed.</p><p>“Hey,” Dawn smiled, “you're a three star general, of course you make the right choices.”</p><p>“Until I don't,” Kennedy sobered a little, “but then it won't matter 'cause we'll all be dead.”</p><p>“But that's not goin' to like happen, right?” whatever her younger self might have thought about the pushy teenage Kennedy, she had nothing but respect for the three star general Kennedy sitting across the coffee table from her, “So, what's the job, General?”</p><div class="center">
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</div><b>Waking Cemetery at dead of night.</b><p>The vampire came at Cissy leading with her fangs and claw like hands. Dodging the creature of the night's charge, Cissy left her right foot behind for the blood sucker to trip over. As planned the vampire fell headlong into the long grass of the graveyard. In an instant Cissy was on the foul creature's back. Taking the monster's head in her hands she snapped the vile creature's neck with a shrug of her shoulders. There was the familiar dry branch snapping sound just before the vampire turned to dust. Standing up, Cissy was just starting to brush the vampire dust off her plus-fours when she was hit by a high velocity Penny.</p><p>“I say!” Cissy exclaimed as Penny covered her face with kisses, “Watch out old thing,” she half-heartedly tried to fight the girl off, “you'll get covered in vamp dust and ruin your dress...”</p><p>“I don't care!” Penny paused for a moment in her kissing, “Watching you slay that vampire makes me want to...”</p><p>“Erm yeah,” Buffy stepped out of the shadows, “I totally get what it wants you to do, but like try to control yourself, okay?”</p><p>“Yes...erm... sorry, Mrs Brown,” reluctantly Penny let go of her girlfriend and took a step back.</p><p>“Look,” Buffy walked over to join the two young women, “it's good that you love Cissy so much Penny, it helps her keep connected to the world, being a slayer can be a very lonely business.” </p><p>“Anyway its back to jolly old Southminster for us tomorrow,” Cissy sighed sadly as she turned to face Buffy, “I can't thank you enough for the training and...well...letting Penny and myself live our lives how we want to live them.”</p><p>“Hey...” Buffy blushed in the darkness, “...its been fun for me too and don't forget we've still got a lot of work to do, your stake technique is still a little sloppy and the next time you come down to the country I'm going to teach you how to make beans on toast!” </p><p>Visions of a smoke filled kitchen filled Buffy's mind for an instant.</p><p>“So where's Mr Brown?” Penny wanted to know as they headed back towards Buffy's house.</p><p>“Oh he's at the observatory again,” Buffy replied with a worried sigh.</p><p>“He's been spending a lot of nights there recently hasn't he?” Cissy asked.</p><p>“Yeah he's working on a story, but...” Buffy's voice faded away for a moment.</p><p>“But...?” Cissy and Penny chorused.</p><p>“Well, normally he tells me what he's writing, but this time he's being very tight lipped.</p><p>“I'm sure its nothing to worry about,” Cissy tried to be reassuring, but it would be obvious to a blind man that her husband's actions were deeply troubling to Buffy.</p><div class="center">
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</div><b>In a galaxy not as far away as people might feel comfortable with.</b><p>Heels clicking briskly on the corridor floor as Lord Vader, know as 'Darth' to his friends...of which he had none...walked towards the door to the Imperial Audience Chamber as his black cloak billowed out behind him. Even he, a man with arguably one of the darkest souls in the know universe, couldn't help feeling a little apprehensive at the prospect of a meeting with the Emperor. It was generally accepted that the Emperor did have the blackest soul in the know universe, but just lately even his actions could be considered more than a little odd. For instance, why had the Emperor ordered six of the fleet's Star Destroyers to this uninhabited star system? When there were plenty of inhabited star systems crawling with 'rebel scum' just crying out to be turned into uninhabited star systems.</p><p>His was not to reason why, his was but to do and...well, hopefully not die, or at least only die a little bit. This would allow the Empire's medical services to return him to full health. The door to the audience chamber swished open ominously at his approach. After only a moment's hesitation, Vader walked on into the chamber beyond. The door swished closed behind him with all the finality of a door to some sort of hi-tech tomb. Turning slightly to his right, Vader continued his journey towards the throne.</p><p>It seemed a very long walk across the chamber to the dais on which stood the Imperial Throne. Eventually he came to a halt at the foot of the stairs that led up to where the Emperor was sitting. Obviously the Emperor hadn't noticed his approach because he was still starring off across the chamber at nothing. Feeling himself start to fidget, Vader wondered what he should do. This was a problem when you worked for the Supreme Evil Overlord of the Galaxy. Should one cough and draw attention to yourself and be reduced to unsightly grease spot on the floor, or, remain silent and risk being reduced to an unsightly grease spot on the floor. In a flash Vader recognised the difficulties inherent in this form of Evil Overlord government. Eventually, Vader couldn't stand the silence any more, he coughed politely. The Emperor seemed to come back from wherever he'd been and gazed down at Vader examining him as if he was some new and interesting bug...just before he crushed it out of existence.</p><p>“Vader?” the Emperor's voice echoed around the chamber.</p><p>“Master?” Vader replied.</p><p>An embarrassing silence descended on the audience chamber as it quickly became obvious to Vader that the Emperor had forgotten why he'd called him into his presence.</p><p>“Erm...you called for me, Master?” Vader hinted.</p><p>“I did?” the Emperor replied uncertainly before shrugging and saying, “Well, if you say I did then I suppose it must be true. I mean even you wouldn't come voluntarily into my presence.”</p><p>“Umm...” Vader wasn't sure what to say but was relieved of having to say anything when the Emperor stood up and started down the stairs towards him.</p><p>“Ah-ha!” the Emperor exclaimed as he came to a halt in front of Vader, “Now I remember!”</p><p>“Of course Master,” Vader could help but give a little sigh of relief.</p><p>“Yes, yes the fleet, is it fully assembled?” the Emperor wanted to know.</p><p>“All but the last two factory ships and one troop transport, they should be here within the next few hours,” Vader explained.</p><p>“Good, good,” cackled the Emperor, “then we are almost ready for the Final Battle Part Two.”</p><p>“The Final Battle?” Vader frowned inside his full face black helmet, “Part Two?”</p><p>“Yes my dear Vader,” the Emperor chuckled evilly, “last time I won but even in victory I was let down by my minions...” the Emperor turned a gimlet stare on Vader and asked menacingly, “...you won't let me down, will you Vader?”</p><p>“Of course not, my Lord!”</p><p>“Good, good,” the evil smile on the Emperor's face grew wider, “Soon I shall take my rightful place as Evil Overlord of <i>all</i> the Universes. Soon all will bow before me and grovel for I am the FIRST EVIL! MAW-HA-HA!”</p><p>“Of course, Master,” Vader took a surreptitious step away from the Emperor as his hand moved towards the hilt of his Light Sabre.</p><p>“Now...” no sooner had the Emperor tipped over the edge into total insanity and megalomania than he came back and was his usual 'jolly', evil, self again, “...enough of work how about a little fun? Get me a couple of prisoners I like to hear them scream in agony, all work and no play makes the Emperor a dull evil overlord.”</p><p>“Of course,” Vader replied as his hand still hovered over the hilt of his light sabre, could he strike the tyrant down before he himself was reduced to one of those unsightly grease stains that haunted his every nightmare?</p><p>“Do we have any young, short, blonde, female humans in the cells?” the Emperor wanted to know.</p><p>“Erm...” for a moment Vader was taken aback by the Emperor's request, “...I'm not sure, I'll check, but if there aren't I'll have some arrested for you immediately my Lord!”</p><p>“Well, when you find some send them and the chief torturer to my private interrogation room...” the Emperor smiled wickedly, “...and Vader...”</p><p>“My Lord?”</p><p>“Don't take too long about it...MAW-HA-HA!”</p><p>Hurrying from the chamber with the Emperor's diabolical laughter still ringing in his ears, Vader came to a mind shattering conclusion, he really needed to get a new job! </p><p>Alone again, the Emperor brought his laughter under control. If he couldn't torture the real Buffy Summers he could practice on girls that looked a little like her, after all you needed to keep in practice even if you were incorporeal.</p><div class="center">
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<a name="section0010"><h2>10. Chapter 10</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
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  <b>Aboard the TASS Reluctant.</b>
</p><p>Waking up with a start, Faith sat bolt upright in her bunk. For a moment she didn't entirely know where she was as the images from her dream still played in her head like some sort of terrifying, full colour, 3D, surround sound, entertainment crystal. Pushing back her sweat soaked sheet she swung her legs out of bed, resting her elbows on her knees she held her head in her hands as she tried to make sense of the images it contained. The dream had shown her vast star ships shaped like monstrous arrow heads emerging from a crack in the fabric of space and time. She'd seen them launch what looked like hundreds of fighters as they made their way towards an unseen target. The vast mother-ships fired at targets she could not see with some kind of energy weapons as they advanced towards a blue-white planet that lay like a gem on a field of black velvet.</p><p>But the arrow shaped ships and their fighters weren't the worst vision to disturb her sleep. As she had watched helplessly and the hostile starships advanced ominously towards her, she'd seen something like a small moon appear from out of the rift in space. At first her mind wouldn't accept that this object was some sort of huge star ship, but slowly as more and more of the 'moon's' surface became visible, she’d realised that this was some kind of titanic vessel that nothing they could do would stop. As the vast ship approached it destroyed starships and fighters alike. But then it did something completely unexpected, it turned its destructive power on the blue-white world and destroyed it completely.</p><p>It was only after Faith had woken up and had a little time to reconnect with reality that she knew what she'd seen. No one who'd lived in the western world in her own time could fail to realise what those ships were and where they'd come from. Somehow she'd had a slayer dream about being attacked by the Imperial forces from the movie 'Star Wars'.</p><p>It was at this point that Faith actually laughed. In a way she shouldn't really be surprised, after all hadn't she just helped fight the Goa'uld and their Jaffa foot soldiers? Then there were the 'Aliens' on Rigal IV, in fact over the last couple of years creatures and things from movies and TV had been popping into existence to disturb her reality, oh and she mustn't forget the Buffinator that had destroyed their own Buffy-bot.</p><p>“What's up?” Willow's sleepy voice came from behind her as she moved to sit up.</p><p>Willow and Faith had been sleeping together for the last three or four weeks. This was in contravention of regulations and they could both be in serious trouble if anyone took notice. However, Commodore Adams wasn't stupid, as long as the relationships between members of the crew didn't affect the smooth running of the Reluctant and no one started kissing in front of her, she had plausible deny-ability and could claim that she had no knowledge that two of her officers were sleeping together. </p><p>“Slayer dream,” Faith replied as she reached for a robe and put it around her shoulders, the sweat was drying on her skin making her shiver, at least she'd say it was the sweat that had made her shiver like that.</p><p>“What?” Willow moved so she was sitting on the edge of the bed next to Faith.</p><p>“I know,” Faith laughed humourlessly, “weird ain't it? Prophetic dreams were always Buffy's gig, looks like its my turn...”</p><p>“Yeah,” Willow put a supportive arm around Faith's shoulder, “I remember you saying that after the monster dreams when you were first called you didn't have that many slayer dreams.”</p><p>“Right,” Faith nodded her head, “looks like they're making up for lost time an' this one was a real doozy.”</p><p>“What was it about?” Willow asked gently, “It's probably important.”</p><p>Faith explained everything she'd seen in her dream and watched as the realisation of what she was hearing spread across Willow's face.</p><p>“...I could feel it coming,” Faith turned to look into her lover's eyes.</p><p>“Feel what, sweetie?” Willow asked while all the time knowing what Faith would say.</p><p>“It was The First Evil, Will,” Faith's voice trembled a little, “its really coming back...”</p><p>In the silence that followed Faith's words the sound of the intercom buzzing broke into Faith and Willow's thoughts of doom and destruction.</p><p>“Lieutenant Commander Rosenberg here,” Willow answered the intercom, “this better be important...” Willow's eyes opened wide with surprise as she listened to whoever was on the other end, “...erm, yes General, nine o'clock your conference room, roger that!”</p><p>“General Kennedy?” Faith asked.</p><p>“Uh-huh,” Willow nodded, “looks like slayers all over the Task Force have been having exactly the same dream as you.”</p><p>“Hell, there goes the 'over active' imagination theory,” Faith sighed sadly.</p><p>“Totally,” Willow agreed, “there's nothing much we can do 'til morning. The General's called a meeting for all the task forces slayers an' witches in her conference room at nine o'clock tomorrow...no,” Willow glanced at the clock on her cabin wall, “make that today”</p><p>Faith looked at the clock on the wall, it was only one o'clock.</p><p>“Better change these sheets an' try to get some rest,” Faith said as she stood up.</p><p>“Yeah,” Willow agreed as she too climbed out of bed and started to pull the damp sheets from the bed, “something's telling me that our lives just got more complicated and we won't get much time off in the near future...”</p><div class="center">
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</div><b>Aboard the 'Black Freighter'.</b><p>The party was in full swing in the officer's ward room aboard the Black Freighter. The four weeks of combat training were over and the invasion force was as ready as it was ever going to be. The ship's crews, mercenaries and pirate soldiers were having their own parties to celibate the end of the gruelling training schedule. Aboard the Black Freighter, Queen Amy was hosting a party for all the fleet's senior officers. Everyone looked as if they were having fun, which was just as well because tomorrow they would boost out of orbit around 4Plan and start the final leg of their journey towards the 'Target Planet'.</p><p>The Replicant that looked, sounded and even acted a lot like Cordelia Chase (after all it contained her soul) danced across the floor with her wife Pat. Both women were wearing low cut dresses, and Cordy was getting kind of turned on with her breasts pressed up against those of her wife's; she could feel her own nipples start to go hard, Pat's already were and Cordy was just about to suggest that they go back to their quarters for some 'alone time'. It was then that the ear-bug in Cordelia's ear started to chirrup urgently.</p><p>“Damn it all,” Cordy cursed under her breath, reluctantly letting go of her wife, she tapped the bug and spoke, “this better be important...”</p><p>Listening to the report being given to her over her ear-bug, Cordy's face lost all traces of joy as she realised what she was being told. Being commander of the Queen's bodyguard her first thought was for how the news she'd been given would affect the Queen's safety. For the moment at least, Cordy decided that Queen Amy wasn't in any direct danger. The twenty or so slayers and replicants that guarded the queen could deal with any threat for now. But she might have to increase security measures in the near future like having the Queen's guards wear power armour and carry heavier weapons.</p><p>Taking Pat in her arms she told her to go back to their quarters and she'd join her as soon as she could. Detailing a couple of slayers to escort her wife, Cordy watched for a moment as they left the ball room. Satisfied that Pat was as safe as anyone could be, Cordy scanned the crowd for the officer she was looking for. Catching sight of Oberst Von Rommole she headed like a guided missile towards the senior officer who commanded of the fleet's landing force.</p><p>“Oberst,” Cordy said softly into the Oberst's ear.</p><p>“Frau Chase?”</p><p>“We need to talk.”</p><p>“I take it it's something important?”</p><p>“Sure is...” Cordy said as she led the officer towards a quiet corner.</p><p>“Vat is so important?” the Oberst wanted to know.</p><p>“I've just received reports that slayers all over the fleet have had prophetic dreams...”</p><p>“What's so odd about that?” Oberst Rommole want to know, “Slayer's have dreams all the time.”</p><p>“I know,” Cordy nodded, “but this time it was the same dream...”</p><p>“Der same dream?” Oberst Rommole frowned.</p><p>“Exactly the same dream...” Cordy gave the Oberst a potted version of what the slayers had dreamed; the unknown fleet coming through a rift in space and attacking...well, here things got a little fuzzy, none of the slayers had been able to tell who the attacking fleet was shooting at.</p><p>“Scheisse!” said the Oberst quietly and with remarkable self control.</p><div class="center">
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</div><b>The Brown Residence, Waking.</b><p>Being so distracted by the dream she'd had the previous night, Buffy set fire to the toast as she made breakfast for her husband and herself.</p><p>“Darn it!” Buffy cried as she took wild swipes at the smoke before pulling the grill pan from under the griller.</p><p>“Ah!” Harry eyed his wife with concern as he walked into the kitchen to see how bad the fire was, “Burnt offerings?”</p><p>He moved swiftly across the kitchen to help Buffy put out the minor conflagration in the grill pan.</p><p>“You know,” Harry said as he threw burning toast into the sink, “I think we should get one of those new electric toasters...” he turned to look at Buffy, “...what's wrong.”</p><p>“Bad dream,” Buffy announced as she sat down at the breakfast table while Harry took over cooking the breakfast.</p><p>“Want to talk about it?” Harry had noticed over the years he'd been married to Buffy that every so often she was plagued by bad dreams.</p><p>They'd disturb her sleep for a few days and then vanish only to come back several months later. Normally, however, the effects of the dream didn't include trying to burn the house down.</p><p>“No, not really,” Buffy replied as she wished she had Giles to talk to about the dream.</p><p>She'd had the dream for the last two or three nights and every night it'd be the same; she'd see cities burning, soldiers hanging from barbed wire entanglements. There were tanks, but not like any that she'd seen in photographs on this world. These tanks were lower and sleeker than anything used by armies on Eden and there were the helicopters. Most countries used autogyros, but the machines that flew through her dreams were definitely helicopters...the kind that fired missiles and rockets and spat death from big machine-guns. It was all very frightening and some how she knew it was all going to happen soon.</p><p>“Whatever,” Buffy sighed, “its probably just my over active imagination.”</p><p>“Perhaps you should write about it,” Harry suggested as he put a plate of scrambled eggs on toast in front of Buffy.</p><p>“Yeah maybe you're right,” Buffy nodded as she picked up her knife and fork and changed the subject, “I've got Cissy and Penny coming down again this weekend.”</p><p>“More kitchen lessons?” Harry smiled.</p><p>“Looks like,” Buffy admitted; Penny had become a reasonably good cook, but Cissy was a danger to life and limb in the kitchen, but she was good at stuff like making beds, chopping fire wood and generally physical things.</p><p>“Well,” Harry said before tucking into his own breakfast, “I won't be here...”</p><p>“You going up to the observatory again?” Buffy asked, “You're spending a lot of time up there, if I was the suspicious kind of woman I might think you were having an affair.”</p><p>“No not an affair,” Harry explained; he'd been meaning to explain to Buffy why he was spending so much time away from their bed and now seemed to be as good a time as ever. “Finish your breakfast and I'll show you what's happening...”</p><p>“That sounds ominous,” Buffy eyed her husband across the table, “screw breakfast what's going on?”</p><div class="center">
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</div>Up at the top of the house in Harry's study, Buffy looked at the grainy black and white photographs as Harry passed them to her one by one.<p>“As you can see,” Harry said as he handed her the next photo in the sequence, “the pictures get sharper the closer these objects get.”</p><p>“Uh-huh,” Buffy said with growing concern as she studied the objects approaching the planet, “These are the same things that you talked about before, right?”</p><p>“Correct.”</p><p>“The same things that changed course and speed before spending several weeks in orbit around Arawn before heading for Eden?”</p><p>“Correct,” Harry said again before asking, “any ideas as to what they might be?”</p><p>“Totally,” Buffy replied, “but you probably won't believe me.”</p><p>“To be honest, Buffy, I think I'd believe anything just now,” Harry explained, “I mean they're not natural...”</p><p>“No they're not,” Buffy examined the last photo in the series, it did seem to be what she suspected it to be, “they're space ships.”</p><p>“Yes,” Harry agreed, “that's what Professor Scot believes they are.”</p><p>“Has anyone told the government?” Buffy wanted to know.</p><p>“Yes.”</p><p>“Do they believe you and Prof Scott?”</p><p>“Lets just say they don't disbelieve us,” Harry explained, “they've put the army and navy on alert, but as we don't know if or when these things might land they really can't do anything more. Quite frankly we're thankful that we weren't laughed out of town, as it is we've been sworn to silence.”</p><p>“You won't get into trouble for telling me will you?” Buffy asked concerned.</p><p>“I won't tell if you don't,” Harry tried for a reassuring smile.</p><div class="center">
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</div><b>Aboard the TASS 'Sergeant Lucy Venkatesan'.</b><p>“PLATOON!” the platoon sergeant stood facing the platoon of soldiers as she called them to attention, “PLATOON 'SHUN!”</p><p>Thirty right feet stamped down next to thirty left feet and Dawn had to remind herself that these were soldiers and not Marines, their drill was different...Marine drill was a lot quieter for one thing.</p><p>The platoon sergeant turned around to face Dawn and for a moment neither woman was sure what they should do next. Normally the PS would salute her platoon leader and make her report. But Dawn wasn't a commissioned officer and you didn't salute Warrant Officers. Staring at each other as an embarrassing silence fell across the compartment, Dawn breathed a sigh of relief as the PS spoke.</p><p>“Number Five Platoon all present or accounted for, MA'AM!”</p><p>“Thank-you Sergeant...?”</p><p>“Hitomi, Ma'am,” replied the NCO.</p><p>That's right, Dawn reminded herself Replicants didn't have surnames. Although the women in front of her all looked western in appearance they'd been 'born' in one of the Tyrell Corporations factories in Japan. This meant they'd probably all have Japanese sounding names. They also all looked the same. Well, not exactly the same but like they were all sisters, this was going to be fun, Dawn told herself, trying to put similar faces to unfamiliar names. Plus, thank-you General Kennedy for making me platoon leader of this Replicant platoon, Dawn added mentally as she walked down the front rank of soldiers. After inspecting her new command, Dawn went to stand in front of her new platoon, she had Sergeant Hitomi stand the platoon at ease.</p><p>“As some of you probably know I'm Warrant Officer Class Two Dawn Summers and I'm a Marine. I hope you girls won't hold that against me.”</p><p>This comment got some smiles and even a couple of quiet laughs.</p><p>“We both have a lot to prove to certain people that don't think this experiment will work out,” Dawn continued, “If you do your best for me I'll do the best I can for you and together we'll make the nay-sayers eat their words. As we say in the Marine Corps, I expect your names to shine...roger that so far?”</p><p>“ROGER THAT, MA'AM!” replied the platoon as one voice.</p><p>“Cool,” Dawn replied quietly and smiled, this she told herself was going to be...interesting.</p><div class="center">
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<a name="section0011"><h2>11. Chapter 11</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
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  <b>Akula Six.</b>
</p><p>The shuttle dropped like a stone as it punched through the target planet's upper atmosphere. It's heat shield glowed a cherry red as it headed into the darkness of the planet's night-side. The four woman crew had a simple mission to perform. In a few days time the lead elements of the landing force would commence operations on the planet's surface, it was Akula Six's mission to do a final mapping and sensor scan of the projected landing zone.</p><p>True, it would have been easier to have used a spy satellite, but there were too few satellites available. Although Queen Amy had raised billions of D'lahs from the sale of the stolen Element 451, her advisers had recommended that only equipment that could be used for two or more roles should be acquired. Reconnaissance satellites being very expensive and specialized equipment had been far down on the list of things to buy, so, only five had been bought and one of them had malfunctioned.</p><p>However, the crew of Akula Six had nothing to fear. It was night on the part of the planet they'd be mapping and the natives didn't even have radar let alone sophisticated sensors. Anyone who happened to look up and saw Akula Six pass overhead would dismiss it as a meteorite burning up as it entered the atmosphere. Decelerating as she levelled the shuttle out at an altitude of one-thousand feet, the pilot, Kirsty Young and her co-pilot, Mayumi Yoshizawa completed their post re-entry checks. Noting a red flashing light, Kirsty flicked it with her finger nail, the light went out. The Akula was a second hand craft and it had a few bugs in its systems, like malfunctioning warning lights.</p><p>“Hollie,” Kirsty called to the flight engineer who was seated behind the co-pilots chair, “I've got a warning light on number three starboard repelor, check it out for me will you?” </p><p>“Roger,” Hollie Grant the flight engineer replied as she checked readouts and typed instructions into the shuttle's computer, after waiting for the computer to diagnose the problem she reported back, “nothing to worry about just a hinky heat sensor.”</p><p>“You sure?”</p><p>“Sure,” Hollie called, “but we might want to get it checked out when we get back to 'The Freighter'.”</p><p>“Roger that,” Kirsty acknowledged.</p><p>Setting a course for the target area, Kirsty pulled the shuttle around in a long, slow bank, it wouldn't do to alert the natives with a sonic boom. The Akula was a wholly gravitic drive craft so made little noise as it flew through the air. Not only did it fly almost silently but it could also out pace any aircraft the locals possessed and if running away didn't work she had two 23mm tri-barrelled auto-cannons mounted on either side of the craft, that would discourage even the bravest local pilot. The Akulas were multi-role craft capable of carry a dozen troops, or, weapons packs or as the case was today a suite of sensors and ground mapping equipment.</p><p>“When can I start my sensor sweeps?” asked the mission specialist, Lexie Scarlett, from the cargo bay where her equipment and work station had been set up.</p><p>“We'll be over the target area in about a minute,” Kirsty looked at Mayumi and smiled.</p><p>Being a tech, Lexie never went on combat missions. Although, strictly speaking this wasn't a combat mission, but to hear Lexie talk they'd be flying into the jaws of death from the moment they left orbit.</p><p>“Good,” you could hear the relief in Lexie's voice even over the intercom, “the sooner we're back on 'The Freighter' the better as far as I'm concerned.”</p><p>“Don't worry,” Mayumi sniggered, “we'll make sure all the big, bad natives don't eat you.”</p><p>“It's alright for you,” Lexie replied sharply, “you're used to this sort of...hey what's that!?”</p><p>'That', was the sound of several alarms going off at once.</p><p>“What's going on, Hollie?” Kirsty called as she and Mayumi struggled with controls that had suddenly become sluggish and unresponsive.</p><p>“Remember that glitch?” Hollie yelled back over the sound of multiple sirens.</p><p>“Yeah...” Kirsty tried to feed more power to the repelors but it didn't seem to be making any difference.</p><p>“It wasn't a glitch...” Hollie called.</p><p>“NOT A GLITCH!?” Lexie screamed in near panic.</p><p>“QUIET!” Kirsty ordered, she and Mayumi were finding it increasingly difficult to control the Akula's altitude.</p><p>“One of the power feeds has burnt out and overloaded number three starboard repelor, this caused an overload in numbers two and four and that'll eventually cause an overload in all the starboard repelors...basically, unless we land right now we're going to crash!”</p><p>“Okay...” Kirsty studied her options, didn't like them and looked for some alternatives, there were none, “Hollie do what you can to keep us airborne, Mayumi send out a 'May-day', Lexie strap yourself in and stop crying, I'm going to try and put us down before we crash!”</p><div class="center">
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</div><b>The Brown Residence, Waking.</b><p>Clouds of grey smoke and steam billowed up into the night sky as Buffy stood, bucket in hand, as she surveyed the smouldering wreckage of the barbecue.</p><p>“I'm guessing that's not how its supposed to work,” Cissy said quietly as she stood next to Buffy.</p><p>“No...” Buffy replied through gritted teeth.</p><p>“Sorry,” Cissy added.</p><p>Having always enjoyed barbecues as a child, she remembered barbecues in LA, there'd been little opportunity for barbecues in Sunnydale. So, Buffy was trying to single handedly introduce them to this version of England, but she had to admit it was an uphill struggle. The climate wasn't really dry enough to hold spontaneous barbecues and people seemed to have a reluctance to cooking outside.</p><p>Everything had been going fine until, Cissy came to take her turn at the grill. It was then things went wrong in a major conflagration-like way. Up until that point Buffy had been overseeing everything and it looked as if Penny had a real flare for turning meat over and stopping it from bursting into flames.</p><p>“Cissy,” Buffy sighed deeply, “you're a sweet girl, and you have the makings of a truly great slayer, but as a cook you're a disaster waiting to happen.”</p><p>“What do we do now?” Penny stood at the table where all the making for a truly great barbecue lay, she held a bread roll in her hand as she looked at the sodden meat that was supposed to go in the roll.</p><p>“Well this isn't going to light again,” Buffy gestured at the submerged charcoal.</p><p>“I say,” Cissy spoke again, “I really am jolly sorry for spoiling things.”</p><p>“Whatever,” Buffy sighed as another of her dreams was cruelly crushed.</p><p>“Oh!” Penny cried out in surprise as she pointed up into the star filled sky, “What the flip is that!?”</p><p>Looking up Buffy saw something pass by overhead, it kind of reminded her of a meteor crashing down to Earth. The object, she couldn't tell how big it was as there was nothing to judge scale by, was trailing smoke and flame as it plummeted towards the ground. No sooner had the three women spotted the object than it disappeared behind a line of trees in the distance. Moments latter there was a flash and a bright light followed by the sound of something big and heavy crashing into the ground.</p><p>“Golly!” gasped Penny.</p><p>“I say!” Cissy added.</p><p>“Holy crap!” Buffy exclaimed.</p><p>“What was it?” Cissy asked as both she and Penny turned for some sort of explanation to Buffy.</p><p>“I'm not totally sure,” Buffy said uncertainly, “but I think we should check it out...I've seen how demons can land like that...”</p><p>“Jolly good!” Cissy smiled, at last, she thought, something she could do without it bursting into flames, “We can take the motorbike!”</p><p>Cissy and Penny had arrived at Buffy's house on Cissy's motorcycle and side-car. Penny had ridden behind Cissy and all their luggage had been piled into the side-car.</p><p>“No we can't,” Buffy said rather sternly, she remembered Penny's look of sheer relief as she'd dismounted from the back of the bike, “we'll go in my car.”</p><p>“Spoilsport,” Cissy muttered under her breath.</p><p>“We might need weapons,” Buffy announced as she headed for the house, “and I think we should get changed into clothes more appropriate for possible slayage.”</p><div class="center">
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</div>Twenty minutes later, Buffy, Penny and Cissy were all crammed into her little car. It was only with all three of them in it that Buffy realised how small her car actually was and perhaps she should buy something bigger. After spotting the meteorite, everyone had gone into the house and changed; Cissy was wearing tweed plus-fours and a tweed jacket. Penny had adopted a rather fetching tweed skirt and jacket outfit, while Buffy wore the clothes she normally wore when she was doing messy chors, like painting or gardening, around the house. In the trunk or boot of the car lay a selection of swords, axes, stakes and a couple of shotguns with several boxes of shells.<p>“It looked like it came down on Waking Heath,” Buffy observed as she manoeuvred the car out of the driveway and onto the road.</p><p>“Did you manage to contact your husband?” Penny asked.</p><p>“No,” Buffy turned the car in the direction of Waking Heath, “the lines were dead.”</p><p>Harry was spending another night at the observatory with Professor Scott watching the mysterious objects that had settled into orbit around Eden three or four days previously.</p><p>“I wouldn't worry,” Cissy said, “perhaps this thing brought down the telephone lines.”</p><p>“Yeah, perhaps,” Buffy agreed as she drove on through the dark.</p><p>Waking Heath was only a five minute drive away along the narrow, twisty country roads and the three adventurers soon arrived at their destination. Bringing the car to a halt and after switching off the engine, Buffy and her friends stepped out onto the heath. The night was clear of all but a few clouds and the Moon shone down on the heath bathing it in a silvery light. What with the moonlight and slayer night vision, Buffy could see quite clearly. What she saw was heather and gorse bushes either on fire or smouldering having been almost totally consumed by an earlier blaze. Over to her left she could see a great scar in the heath, obviously whatever had crashed had skidded for several hundred yards before coming to a halt on the other side of the low hill that blocked her view.</p><p>It was only as she was taking in all the destruction visited on the heath that the first feelings of unease surfaced in Buffy's mind. She was no expert, but if whatever it was had been a meteorite shouldn't there be a really big hole where she was standing right now? Also, there were those photographs that her husband had shown her. Those things orbiting around Eden really did look like big spaceships, what if one of them had landed?</p><p>“Shouldn't we go and have a look?” Cissy wanted to know.</p><p>“And maybe get some weapons?” Penny suggested nervously. </p><p>“Yes to going and taking a look,” Buffy replied, “no to weapons...” she saw the look of apprehension on Penny's face, “...however, Cissy and I can look after ourselves if something nasty's behind that hill so maybe Penny should stay by the car.”</p><p>“ALONE!?” Penny cried, “With evil monsters out there just waiting to get their evil, slim dripping tentacles on my defenceless, white, flesh and do unspeakable things to me?” </p><p>“Then perhaps not,” Buffy sighed for a moment unsure as to what to do.</p><p>“I notice you've already decided that there's something evil waiting for us,” Cissy pointed out.</p><p>“Bloody right I have!” Penny replied vehemently.</p><p>“Perhaps Penny's right,” Buffy said before walking over to the car and opening the boot, “maybe a couple of weapons would be a good idea.”</p><p>Taking a large dagger or short sword for herself, Buffy passed another to Cissy before handing a small, chromed, lady's revolver and a torch/flashlight to Penny. Thus armed the three women walked towards where a column of smoke rose into the night air.</p><div class="center">
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</div><b>Akula Six.</b><p>Waking up with a splitting headache, Kirsty found herself hanging from her safety harness at an unnatural angle. What had been left and right was now up and down as the shuttle appeared to be resting on its left side at an angle of about ninety degrees to what should be the right way up. Looking over to her left she saw Mayumi slumped against the side of the cabin, Kirsty could tell by the unnatural angle of her head that her neck was broken and she was dead.</p><p>“Crap!” Kirsty cursed quietly; she and Mayumi had been friends since they'd joined Morgan's Marauders, a mercenary outfit, four years ago, recently they'd started to sleep together, “Damn it!” Kirsty cried as tears started to fill her eyes; taking a deep breath, she reclaimed control of her emotions, “Anyone else alive back there?”</p><p>“Present...” Hollie called.</p><p>“You okay?” Kirsty asked.</p><p>“I'm gonna look like shit in the morning, but other wise I'll live,” Hollie reassured her pilot.</p><p>“Lexie?” Kirsty called out.</p><p>“What the feck happened!?” Lexie the mission specialist asked with growing panic.</p><p>“We crashed,” Kirsty replied as she tried to work out how to release herself from her safety harness without falling on top of Mayumi's body.</p><p>“ON THE PLANET!?” Lexie screamed in near panic.</p><p>“I hope so,” Kirsty replied calmly, “so keep ya voice down and try to remember you're a pirate.”</p><p>Lexie belonged to the crew of the Black Freighter and was not a mercenary, in fact she didn't really fit in with Kirsty's preconceived ideas about what a pirate was like.</p><p>“What do you mean, try to remember I'm a pirate?” Lexie demanded forgetting for a while she was hanging almost up-side-down in her seat.</p><p>“Okay, Hollie, what's the news?” Kirsty asked as she started to extricate herself from her chair.</p><p>“Not good,” Hollie replied as she ignored the muttered curses coming from Lexie's part of the shuttle, “all repelors are off line we won't be flying out of here any time soon. External sensors are dead, life support is working on emergency power so we should be okay in here for five or six hours.”</p><p>“Six hours!?” Lexie wailed, “Then I suppose we all suffocate?”</p><p>“Or we could crack a hatch and let in some air,” Hollie pointed out.</p><p>“Oh yeah,” for a moment Lexie stopped panicking, but this only gave her time to think up some other dread ways in which they would all die, “But hey, won't that let the natives in?”</p><p>“Maybe,” Kirsty replied as she got herself down from her pilot's seat and scrambled across the flight deck to where Hollie hung from her straps, “Here unclip and I'll catch you.”</p><p>“Yeah, like I'm gonna trust myself to your ability to catch and hold me...no way!”</p><p>Moments later, Hollie had unclipped her harness, and prevented herself from crashing into her control boards, she now stood next to Kirsty.</p><p>“Sorry about Mayumi,” Hollie said quietly, “I know you and she were...”</p><p>“I'll grieve for her later,” Kirsty explained sadly, “first we've gotta get ourselves out of this mess.”</p><p>“Hey guys,” Lexie wailed from her workstation, “help me outta here will ya?”</p><p>Giving each other a knowing glance, Kirsty and Hollie weighed up the pros and cons of releasing Lexie from her prison in the back of the shuttle.</p><p>“Erm...yeah,” Kirsty called, “we'll be there in a minute...or two...”</p><p>“Or five..” Hollie added quietly.</p><div class="center">
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<a name="section0012"><h2>12. Chapter 12</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
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  <b>Waking Heath.</b>
</p><p>By the time Buffy, Cissy and Penny had walked around the hillock they found that several other people had reached the 'meteorite' first. There were about a dozen local men and women waving torches around as they tried to get a better view of this mysterious object from space. They were hindered in their attempts by the heat radiating off the 'meteorite' and that Sergeant Kemp and one of his constables from the Waking Constabulary were doing their best to keep people away.</p><p>“Stay back ladies...” Sergeant Kemp called when he noticed Buffy and her friends approach, “...oh its you, Mrs Brown.”</p><p>“Hi Sergeant,” Buffy called cheerfully, she knew the Sergeant a little and wanted to keep on his good side because she wanted to get a closer look at the 'meteorite', turning to Cissy and Penny she spoke quickly and quietly, “You two stay here while I talk to the sergeant.”</p><p>Before either Cissy of Penny could complain about being left behind, Buffy had walked briskly over to the sergeant.</p><p>“Rum do this, ma'am,” Sergeant Kemp announced as Buffy drew close.</p><p>“Totally,” Buffy agreed, “any idea what we're dealing with?”</p><p>“Some sort of aircraft,” Kemp replied in a hushed voice; he felt comfortable talking to Buffy because, Mrs Brown was a pillar of the community and her husband was a famous newspaper writer and it was always a good idea to keep on the right side of the press.</p><p>“An aircraft!?” Buffy replied in fake surprise; from the little she'd seen the wreck did look a lot like a large aeroplane, but not of a type she was familiar with, “It seems awfully big for a regular aircraft.”</p><p>“I know,” Kemp nodded, “at first I thought an airship had come down, but that would have blown up.”</p><p>Even modern airships had a distressing habit of exploding if they crashed.</p><p>“I agree,” Buffy replied, “so what are you going to do now?”</p><p>“Leave it to the Inspector,” Kemp laughed gruffly, “but in the mean time I'll leave one of my lads here with a couple of beadles to make sure no one does anything stupid, we can't do much more in the dark.”</p><p>“Quite right Sergeant,” Buffy smiled at the man; Sergeant Kemp was good at his job when it involved catching burglars or poachers, large aircraft crashing in his area was not something he'd been trained to deal with.</p><p>Thanking the sergeant, Buffy walked back to where Cissy and Penny were standing.</p><p>“What's the news?” Cissy asked as she and Penny held hands in the dark.</p><p>“Some sort of aircraft crashed,” Buffy replied, “there's not much anyone can do until it gets light.”</p><p>“Seems jolly big for an aeroplane,” Penny observed.</p><p>“Perhaps that's why it crashed,” Cissy suggested as the group's expert on all things aeronautical, after all she was learning to be a pilot.</p><p>“Hmmm, maybe,” Penny didn't sound convinced, she looked at Buffy, “you don't think its an aeroplane do you, Buffy?”</p><p>“Its too dark to see much,” Buffy hedged, “and its mostly covered in earth.”</p><p>“Too dark to see much with your 'slayer eyes'?” Penny asked, “I know you two can see in the dark like cats so…?”</p><p>“I'm sorry Penny, I don't want to lie to you,” Buffy explained, “but...”</p><p>“But?” Cissy and Penny asked in chorus.</p><p>“Well, it looks a little like something I've seen before, but, I'm not sure if I'm right,” Buffy explained, “I wanna see it in daylight before everyone flies into a panic or something.”</p><p>“Panic!?” Penny gasped, “There's something to panic about?”</p><p>“I know what it is,” Cissy explained, “its some sort of new weapon made by those rotten Bavarian so-n-so's...its a sneak attack!”</p><p>“A sneak attack?” Buffy queried, “The Bavarians sent over a super, new, aircraft to crash into a field?”</p><p>“Well,” Cissy shrugged, “when you put it like that...”</p><p>“Okay,” Buffy started to head back towards the car, “there's nothing we can do until its light...and we've got a semi-destroyed barbecue to clean up before Harry gets home and I for one could do with a bath before bed...come on girls, lets head on home...”</p><div class="center">
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</div><b>Akula Six.</b><p>With a sinking heart, Kirsty watched as line after line of faults and damage reports scrolled by on the monitor's screen. Having fixed up a remote workstation Kirsty and Hollie didn't have to stand and try to read the computer monitor which was now on the ceiling of the flight deck.</p><p>“Okay,” Kirsty said tiredly, they'd crashed over an hour ago and they'd been trying to work out whether they'd be able to fly away from the crash site, “I get the picture...”</p><p>“We're doomed...” called Lexie from the rear of the compartment.</p><p>“...so we're junk...”</p><p>“...dooomed...” Lexie reiterated.</p><p>“...and might be useful for spare parts, have ya got any good news for me?” Kirsty asked hopefully.</p><p>“Well...” Hollie paused as if expecting Lexie to add something, when she didn't, the flight engineer did in fact brighten a little, “...we might not have comms but the emergency beacon is working so someone should come and get us...”</p><p>“And?” Kirsty asked.</p><p>“Well, the hull's cooled enough so we can open the starboard gun-port and use the manual gun sights to take a look around,” Hollie replied.</p><p>“Doooomed...” Lexie's cry was more of a moan now.</p><p>“Cool!” Kirsty said loudly in an attempt to cover up Lexie's sobs, “Lets do it. We might as well take a look at our new home while we're here...”</p><div class="center">
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</div><b>Waking Heath.</b><p>Constable Billings had been left in charge of two Beadles to, 'keep an eye' on the meteorite/aircraft. What anyone expected the strange thing to do that needed them to be stuck out here all night he didn't know, but orders were orders. The two Beadles (sort of local, unpaid, voluntary, constables) were both local men and had managed to scrounge some picnic chairs, a kettle, teapot, mugs, tea, milk and sugar. They'd built a fire and brewed some tea and had made themselves quite comfortable, it kind of reminded Billings of his short career in the army.</p><p>Having been too young for most of the war, Billings had only been conscripted in time to arrive at the front just as the Bavarians had asked for an armistice. He'd marched into Bavarian territory and then spent about six months rounding up Bavarian soldiers and disarming them before packing them off home. When the last Bavarian soldier had left the Eastern Isles he'd found himself sent home and demobbed. Finding himself with nothing to do he'd joined the police (there'd been an upsurge in crime post war) and he'd spent the six years since he'd left the army as a constable in and around the small market town of Waking.</p><p>“Wot d'y'think it is then?” Fred, the younger of the two Beadles asked after refilling everyone's tea mug.</p><p>“It be one of them flying whirligig things like in the war,” announced George, the older of the two beadles with all the certainty of a man who's spent thirty years in the merchant navy, “I had five ships sunk under me by those things.”</p><p>“George Havelock,” Constable Billings said with a grin, “I happen to know that your ship was hit by one bomb that didn't explode an' you was never sunk.”</p><p>“Bloody 'ell Constable,” George laughed out loud, “hows a man supposed to spin a yarn with you telling all an' sundry the truth?”</p><p>“But its a bit big for an aeroplane ain't it?” Fred asked uncertainly.</p><p>“I 'ear tell them things are getting bigger every day,” George explained.</p><p>“That's as maybe,” Billings got out his police issue pocket watch and checked the time before looking to the western horizon, it would be another two or three hours until dawn, “we've still got to watch this 'ere thing until an Inspector calls.”</p><p>“An' I bet 'e won't be getting up out of a nice snug bed...”</p><p>“Or wife,” Fred sniggered.</p><p>“Or wife,” George agreed, “an' come a looking so an honest working man can get some well deserved sleep.”</p><p>“Honest?” Billings smirked, “The only reason they let you be a Beadle was so it'd be easier to keep an eye on you. Anyway its time we took a walk 'round this thing again.”</p><p>“Why?” George grumbled, “It ain't goin' nowhere.”</p><p>“Why?” Billings sighed heavily, “Because I said so...”</p><p>“Well in that case,” George climbed slowly to his feet, “as long as you know y'own mind.”</p><p>Getting to his feet, Fred joined his friends as they walked towards the aeroplane/meteorite.</p><p>“'ere what's that clickin' noise?” Fred asked as they neared the 'thing'.</p><p>“What y'mean clickin' noise?” George was a little deaf so hadn't heard the sound emanating from the 'thing'.</p><p>“Sounds like metal cooling...” Billings began but was interrupted by a shout from Fred.</p><p>“BLOODY 'ELL!” Fred cried out as he pointed to the thing, “IT'S OPENING UP!!!”</p><p>“Bloody 'ell,” George agreed, “'e's right!”</p><p>Turning as one man Fred and George fled with impressive speed back towards the camp. Finding himself deserted by his comrades, Billing turned to run after them.</p><div class="center">
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</div><b>Akula Six.</b><p>“Okay, lets see what we've got,” Kirsty said as she and Hollie sat down around the monitor.</p><p>Taking the joystick that controlled the starboard gun Hollie traversed to the right.</p><p>“It's too dark to see much,” Kirsty pointed out.</p><p>“Hold on...” Hollie hit several keys on the monitor's keyboard and the scene sprang into full colour as the night vision system became active.</p><p>“Better...” Kirsty said as she studied the picture.</p><p>The screen showed an almost flat area of ground covered in low scrub bushes, as the gun mounting turned the route taken by Akula Six as she crash landed came into view. Here a lot of the bushes and the tough looking wiry grass that grew between them were blackened from where they'd caught fire. The gun turret slowly turned to bring more bushes, grass and a few stunted trees into view, there was no sign of animal life.</p><p>“Is that it?” Lexie's voice came from behind the two women, she'd crawled over and was kneeling behind them looking over their shoulders. “Doesn't look like a place I'd want to live and raise a family.”</p><p>“The entire planet can't be like this,” Hollie pointed out.</p><p>“Why not?” Lexie replied shortly.</p><p>“Well...” for a moment Hollie was lost for an answer, the best she could come up with was, “...it just can't.”</p><p>“You've watched too many low budget drama shows,” Kirsty pointed out; it was a fact, if you watched dramas set on other planets an’ the entire universe is made up of old industrial sites, sand pits, forests or places rather like the ones they were looking at now.</p><p>“Hold on!” Lexie pointed at the screen.</p><p>“What? See a bug-eye-demon?” Hollie sniggered.</p><p>“No go back...” Lexie reached forward and grabbed the joystick out of Hollie's hand.</p><p>“Hey!” Hollie complained, but before she could say anything else the gun camera zoomed in on three heads looking out from behind a bush.</p><p>“Natives!” all three women chorused.</p><div class="center">
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</div>“What is it?” Fred asked nervously as the three men peered through the dark at the 'Thing'.<p>“Looks like a gun turret...” suggested George.</p><p>“Don't be daft,” Constable Billings laughed quietly, “it's too small, how would the gunner get inside?”</p><p>“Per'aps they're really small,” George replied determined not to have his theory so easily quashed.</p><p>“Well one thin's for sure,” Billing decided not to ague about how big the crew of the 'Thing' were, “it's not one of them meteorite things...”</p><p>“I tell you its a Bavarian sneak attack,” Fred announced as he became more agitated, “my dad always said that them Bavarians were too sneaky by half!”</p><p>“My old man,” this came from George, “used to say they liked their beer too much to be really bad.”</p><p>“Shut-up you two!” ordered Billings, “I'm trying to think what to do.”</p><p>Several courses of action went through Constable Billings' mind. Maybe he should send young Fred to get help while he and George kept an eye on the 'Thing'. Or perhaps they should all go for help, or, stay here and... If the truth was known Billings didn't know what he should do for the best. He sighed heavily as he watched what he was sure was some kind of gun turret. A couple of minutes ago it had stopped turning and had been pointed at them ever since.</p><p>“Well?” George asked when Billings hadn't said anything for a while.</p><p>“I'm still thinkin',” Billings replied.</p><p>“Well don't take all night over it,” George said, “by the time you've thought what to do we'll 'ave all grown old an' grey.”</p><p>“You are old an' grey,” Billings pointed out truthfully.</p><p>“Per'aps you should arrest them, Constable Billings,” Fred suggested.</p><p>“Stupid boy,” George muttered darkly.</p><p>“What for?” Billings wanted to know.</p><p>“Illegal invasion?” Fred advised.</p><p>“All invasions are illegal,” George pointed out.</p><p>“All the more reason to arrest them then!” Fred countered.</p><p>“No ones arresting anyone!” Constable Billings brought the argument to a premature close. “But I'm thinking we should see what they're a-doin' of.”</p><p>“We?” George quieried.</p><p>“Yes <i>we</i>,” Billings turned to give George a hard look.</p><p>“Alright,” George conceded the point, “but has anyone got a green flag? Everyone knows that if you wave a green flag you mean no harm.”</p><p>“I've got a green hankie,” Fred volunteered as he pulled a none too clean green hankie from his pocket.</p><p>“It'll have to do,” Billings admitted, “Come on lads, over the top.”</p><p>“Who do you think you are?” George wanted to know, “General Southway?”</p><p>“Shut up and get moving,” Billings snapped, “Fred, you wave y'hankie.”</p><div class="center">
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</div>“Look they're moving!” Hollie pointed unnecessarily at the screen.<p>“I wonder...” Kirsty tried to move Lexie's hand out of the way so she could zoom in and get a better look at the natives.</p><p>The camera zoomed in until the figures almost filled the screen. The auto-focus brought the creatures into sharp focus.</p><p>“Oh...my...goddess!” Kirsty breathed in shock.</p><p>“What?” Hollie starred at the screen and saw what Kirsty was so shocked about.</p><p>“MALES!” Lexie screamed as she made a wild grab for the possession of the joystick again. </p><p>When Lexie had been a little girl, her mother had used the threat of 'males' and all the terrible things that they'd do to little girls as a way of ensuring Lexie's good behaviour. Many was the night that Lexie had gone to bed convinced that there were males under her bed or in her closet, just waiting to jump out and... Well, that was the thing, Lexie's mother had never actually explained what a male might do to Lexie, but she was sure it was something really, really bad.</p><p>As Lexie had grown older those night time terrors had retreated to the back of her mind until she thought she'd put her mother's silly stories behind her. But, even so, she avoided males, which was pretty easy as they were mostly locked in cages behind the police station. Once she'd ventured out into space even these males disappeared from her life. If she ever wanted children she'd go to a Family Planning Clinic on some advanced world where she could get pregnant in a clean, cold, non-threatening way. But today, Lexie was once again faced by those far off childhood nightmares. Watching with wide staring eyes as the three vicious males advanced on the shuttle, no doubt ready to smash in the hatch and do all manner of unspeakable things to her fragile body, Lexie held the joystick in a grip of iron.</p><p>“NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” Lexie screamed as her thumb mashed down on the firing button on top of the joystick.</p><p>Outside the starboard gun fired a long burst of 23mm high explosive, armour piercing rounds at Constable Billings and his friends. The high velocity rounds ripped their bodies to pieces in a welter of blood and gore. When the three lifeless corpses fell to the ground they were hardly recognisable as having once been human.</p><div class="center">
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<a name="section0013"><h2>13. Chapter 13</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
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  <b>Waking Heath.</b>
</p><p>“Won't be long now sir,” Sergeant Clayworth said to the Inspector who was sitting in the back of the car, the Sergeant turned to the Constable who was driving, “Step on it lass.”</p><p>“Right you are, Sarge,” the young woman replied as she pressed her foot down on the accelerator.</p><p>After the meteorite had crashed up on Waking Heath the local police sergeant had asked for an Inspector to come and investigate. Unfortunately the only Inspector available was Inspector Hollingberry, a copper of the old school who didn't see the point of tramping around the Heath in the dark looking for meteors and would much rather spend the night with his young and attractive wife. To be honest, Sergeant Clayworth would much rather spend the night with the Inspector's young and attractive wife too, rather than be doing what he was doing right now. The car bounced off the road as WPC Golightly drove it onto a country track that led off across the heathland. After about five minutes of bouncing along the uneven track, Golightly brought the car to a halt, engaged the brake and switched off the engine.</p><p>“That's about as far as we can go, Sarge,” Golightly announced, “we'll have to walk the rest of the way.”</p><p>“Right you are,” Inspector Hollingberry called from the rear of the passenger compartment, “lets get this over with.”</p><p>Opening the door, Hollingberry stepped out into the chilly morning air. Once more he asked himself why he wasn't I bed with his wife, Delilah, right now, but then he told himself that he had his duty. So, he better go and see what all the fuss was about. Leading the way, Hollingberry walked off into the thin morning light and over a low hill towards where the meteor lay.</p><p>“Keep up, Golightly,” Sergeant Clayworth called with a grin, “we don't want to lose the Inspector.”</p><p>“You speak for y'self, Sarge,” Golightly struggled to keep up, “it's alright for you in those hob-nailed boots of yours, but I'm wearing heels!”</p><p>Clayworth eyed, Golightly's foot wear, “So you are,” he grinned even harder, “and very nice they make your legs look too!”</p><p>“Piss off you randy old goat!” Golightly replied without malice, if she wanted to make a career of the police, she told herself, she needed to rise above these sorts of comments and give as good as she got.</p><p>“That's, 'randy old goat, Sarge'!” Clayworth replied with a grin.</p><p>“Here we are,” cried Hollingberry as they came in sight of the crash-site, “dashed if it doesn't look like some sort of weird aeroplane.”</p><p>“Y'not wrong, Sir,” Clayworth agreed as he came to stand next to Hollingberry.</p><p>“Dashed odd,” Hollingberry added as he advanced on the craft, “didn't the locals leave someone to keep an eye on it?”</p><p>“Aye,” Clayworth nodded, “a constable and two beadles.”</p><p>“I expect they've buggered off home,” Hollingberry said disparagingly, “oh well I think we should have a closer look...”</p><p>“SIR!” Golightly called out as she pointed to where three bloody corpses lay amongst the heather and gorse bushes.</p><p>“Bloody hell!” gasped Clayworth.</p><p>“Females present, Sergeant,” Hollingberry admonished the sergeant, “I wonder what...”</p><p>As Inspector Hollingberry moved to investigate, the gun turret atop the crashed shuttle turned with blinding speed, locked on to this new target and fired. Sensing the gun move threateningly towards them, Clayworth and Golightly hit the ground with commendable speed. While Clayworth had senses honed by years in the army and police, and Golightly was closer to the ground than her sergeant, they both managed to avoid being reduced to bundles of bloody rags. Unlike Inspector Hollingberry, who never really had a chance, was hit by half-a-dozen of the big rounds. Even though only one of the shells actually exploded on target it was enough to reduce the inspector to flesh purée and splatter his remains across the heath.</p><p>“BLOODY HELL!” Sergeant Clayworth cried as he covered Golightly's body with his own as the shells went by over their head.</p><p>“HMMMM!” came Golightly's muffled scream from under her sergeant, “Get off me I can't breath!”</p><p>“Sorry,” Clayworth apologised as he shifted himself to lie next to Golightly.</p><p>Looking up he saw that they were on the reverse slope of the small hill they'd crossed and were out of line-of-sight of the craft's weapons.</p><p>“I'm thinking we better get out of 'ere an' go for help,” Clayworth said as he and Golightly crawled backwards until it was safe to stand up.</p><p>“Lets not go for help,” Golightly panted as she and Clayworth ran for the car, “lets go get the army!”</p><div class="center">
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</div><b>Aboard the Black Freighter.</b><p>Oberst Von Rommole looked at the print-out in her hand again before looking at the staff officer who'd just handed it to her.</p><p>“Do we know if the crew are alive?” Rommole wanted to know.</p><p>“Well, ma'am, only the emergency beacon appears to be working so that could mean that the crew's dead or that their comms isn't working,” the staff officer explained with a shrug.</p><p>“Donna unt blitzen!” Von Rommole cursed; why did a recon shuttle have to crash right in the middle of the initial landing zone? “If the natives gain access to that shuttle and interrogate the crew...”</p><p>“If the crew are alive...” the staff officer reminded her.</p><p>“Those Akulas are tough old birds,” Von Rommole replied, “I'm betting the crew are still alive...”</p><p>The time had come, Von Rommole told herself, this was why she was paid the big D'lahs to make the difficult decisions. Should she leave the crew to their fate and risk the locals finding out they were about to be invaded, or, should she launch the invasion early? Everything was in place for the first wave to be carried down to the surface and the shuttle had crashed in the landing zone so...</p><p>“We launch,” Von Rommole announced, “there's too much risk of the locals realising vat's going on for us to delay, they've got to have seen us in orbit by now,” she looked up at the chronometer on the wall of the command room, “Ve 'go' in six hours,” she turned to her staff who were standing around the battle board, “send out the orders and get everyone moving vile I go and inform the Queen.”</p><div class="center">
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</div><b>The Brown Residence, Waking.</b><p>“Can you girls manage to make your breakfasts without setting fire to my kitchen?” Buffy asked as she arranged the things on the breakfast tray she was going to take up to Harry.</p><p>“Of course,” Penny smiled, “as long as Cissy keeps a safe distance from anything even vaguely cookery related.”</p><p>As Buffy worked she paused to notice what the two young women were wearing; Cissy, of course was doing her best to look like a young man. Baggy trousers, a shirt under a waistcoat and today she was wearing a brightly coloured cravat instead of a tie. The only thing that gave away her real sex were her shoes. They were small and dainty even if they could be described as 'sensible'. On the other hand, Penny was wearing a calf length skirt in green with a slit up to her hip on the right side. She wore a white blouse with a tailored body and big puffy sleeves, unlike Cissy she was wearing heels that could never be described a sensible. Looking down at herself, Buffy suddenly realised that what she was wearing would have suited her mother. Sighing sadly, she realised that her days of short skirts and boots were behind her now.</p><p>“I am still in the room,” Cissy said as she helped Penny tie an apron around her waist, “A little later Penny and I will be walking into Waking to do some shopping, do you want us to get you anything?”</p><p>“No thanks,” Buffy smiled as she picked up the tray and headed out of the kitchen and up the stairs.</p><p>The previous night Harry had returned from the observatory at about midnight. He'd looked tired and worried which was why Buffy had decided to make him breakfast in bed. However, when she arrived at their bedroom door Harry was nowhere to be seen.</p><p>“Harry?” Buffy called softly.</p><p>“I'm in the study,” Harry's voice floated in from the landing.</p><p>With the tray still firmly in her hands, Buffy left the bedroom and headed out onto the landing and up the stairs before walking into the smaller of the house's three bedrooms, she put down the tray in a clear space on a table. For a moment she stood and watched Harry's back as he shuffled papers on his desk over by the window.</p><p>“I brought you breakfast,” Buffy told her husband as she went to look around him at what he was doing.</p><p>“Hmmm...?” Harry replied distractedly.</p><p>“I mean you looked tired last night and I knew you'd not want to have breakfast with a bunch of women....and Cissy...and I was feeling guilty about having sex with Penny last night, I've decided I'm a vixen...”</p><p>“Hmmm...what?” Harry muttered as he continued with his paper shuffling.</p><p>“HARRY!” Buffy shouted making Harry jump and stop what he was doing.</p><p>“AAGH!” Harry cried in alarm.</p><p>“You know I love you dearly, but sometimes...”</p><p>“I'm sorry,” Harry said as he turned to face his wife, “but what with everything...”</p><p>“Everything?” Buffy glanced down at the papers on Harry's desk, there were photographs of what could only be spaceships in amongst the paperwork, “Why don't you sit down, eat your breakfast, which I might tell you I made at great personal risk...”</p><p>“Cissy in the kitchen?”</p><p>“...totally,” Buffy nodded, “so, tell me about what's going on at that observatory.”</p><p>Seeing the good sense in his wife's words, Harry sat down as Buffy poured him a cup of tea. As he ate, Buffy looked at the photographs on her husband's desk. They were the clearest shots of the space ships she'd seen so far. It was now so obvious that they were manufactured artefacts that even the church couldn't deny it, oh, they'd try but they'd be fooling no one but the most hard line religionists. As she studied the photographs, she listened as her husband explained about the smaller craft that were flying down and overflying areas of the planet as if they were looking for somewhere to land.</p><p>“One crashed on the Heath last night,” Buffy informed him.</p><p>“THE HEATH!?” Harry exclaimed almost dropping his tea cup.</p><p>“Uh-huh,” Buffy put down the photograph she'd been looking at and turned to face her husband, “I went to take a look with the girls but there was nothing much to see.”</p><p>“What did it look like?” Harry demanded as he rose to his feet.</p><p>“It looked like a big aircraft,” Buffy replied, “but it had crashed and it was really badly smashed up and buried under a ton of earth.”</p><p>“Where's my camera, I've got to see it!”</p><p>“I'll drive you up there but only after you've eaten and dressed properly,” Buffy told him calmly.</p><p>“BUT...!”</p><p>“But nothing,” Buffy crossed her arms under her breasts and moved to block the doorway, “calm down and listen to me.”</p><p>“But you don't understand,” Harry pleaded.</p><p>“What don't I understand?”</p><p>“That this could be the end of the world!”</p><div class="center">
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</div>After making sure that her husband finished his breakfast, washed, shaved and put on some clean clothes, Buffy drove him up to the Heath. Her husband was not acting normally, she reasoned that it was because he was tired and not his usual hard headed self. Arriving at the Heath they found it cordoned off by police from Grantchester and soldiers from the nearby Royal Engineer's barracks at Chesterton. Even after showing his press card no one would let Harry get closer to the crash site. Eventually Harry and Buffy gave up and went home. Arriving at their house, Harry collected up all his papers and photographs before having Buffy drive him to the train station where he caught the 10:05 train to Southminster.<p>After standing on the platform watching her husband's train chuff off into the distance, Buffy turned and walked slowly back to her car and drove into Waking town centre. After parking on the market square, she walked over to her favourite tea shop where she ordered a pot of tea and a fruit bun. Sitting in a window seat she watched the world go by as she tried to make sense of space ships in orbit around the planet. Would whoever was piloting those space ships be friendly? Why had they come to Eden? What, if anything, did she need to do about it?</p><p>When she looked out at the market square it was just gone ten-forty-five and she'd not made up her mind if she needed to do something about these 'visitors', when the sound of marching feet came from the direction of the road that led to the railway station. Standing up to get a better view, she saw a column of khaki clad soldiers march into the square their rifles hung from straps over their shoulders. At first people just stood and stared, large numbers of soldiers were an uncommon sight in Waking. But soon people were cheering and clapping as the soldiers marched by.</p><p>Obviously someone had thought it was best to surround the craft up on the Heath. However, Buffy didn't think that one smashed up shuttle was worth what looked like several hundred soldiers to deal with it. As these thoughts were going through her head she noticed Cissy and Penny standing on the pavement outside the tea shop as they too watched the troops go by. Knocking on the glass, Buffy attracted their attention and waved at them to come inside.</p><p>“I say, Buffy,” Penny cried excitedly, “isn't this jolly exciting?”</p><p>“If you like that sort of thing,” Cissy said darkly, she could remember both her father and uncle going off to war to fight the Bavarians.</p><p>“Oh cheer up misery-draws,” Penny giggled as she sat down and Buffy ordered more tea and sticky buns.</p><p>“Have you girls heard any news?” Buffy asked as she sipped her tea.</p><p>“Apparently,” Penny began before Cissy could say anything, “early this morning the police went up there to investigate...at least one maybe more of the police were shot down with some sort of machine-gun.”</p><p>“Oh my!” Buffy gasped as she realised that there might be something for 'The Slayer' to do here after all.</p><p>“Yes!” Penny leaned forward and kept her voice low, “I spoke to this woman police constable who claimed she'd been driving the car for the Inspector who was shot, she said there were at least three more bodies on the heath!”</p><p>“Don't be a silly goose!” Cissy cried in disbelief.</p><p>“Look, that's what she told be,” Penny explained in a voice that brooked no argument.</p><p>“Whatever,” Buffy said in a tone of voice she recognised as the same one her mother had used when breaking up arguments between herself and her sister, “look, do you girls want to go back to Southminster or do you want to stay here...” Buffy looked at both young women, “...you're welcome to stay but I'm getting the feeling that things could turn nasty.”</p><p>“Your dream?” Cissy asked.</p><p>“Uh-huh,” Buffy nodded.</p><p>“The Dream?” Penny cast her girlfriend a worried look.</p><p>“The one Buffy had about all the death and destruction,” Cissy replied.</p><p>“Oh my!” Penny said soberly.</p><p>“I think we'll stay,” Cissy told Buffy.</p><div class="center">
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<a name="section0014"><h2>14. Chapter 14</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <b>Waking Heath.</b>
</p><p>Leaning on his shovel, Lance Corporal Lewis glanced over to where yet another of the strange, almost silent aircraft was landing just over a mile away. As he bent back to the task of digging an emplacement for his machine-gun he wondered idly why the air corps wasn't doing more to stop the invaders from landing. From where he was standing it seemed that the invaders could come and go as they pleased.</p><p>The order to move to Waking Heath had come the previous night. Once the Colonel had issued the order (which had originally come down from the War Office in Southminster) there'd been a lot of frantic activity to get the battalion ready to move at four o'clock the following morning. Lewis' job was to take a couple of privates and a truck and roust out the men that lived in married quarters and search the pubs and brothels of Hampton for men who had gone out for a night's drinking and flirting with the local girls.</p><p>Having filled his truck with disgruntled married men and half-drunk unmarried men he'd headed back to barracks where his officer, Mr Young, had told him to load the truck with his section's ammunition and equipment. Belonging to support company of the Twenty-Forth Foot, Lewis was in charge of Number three gun of the first section of the company's machine-gun platoon; the rest of the company being made up of a mortar platoon, an anti-tank rifle platoon and a small company headquarters platoon.</p><p>Support Company had its own transport made up of light trucks and field cars, so while the rest of the battalion would be marched down to Hampton railway station and then go by rail to Waking and from there march up to the Heath. Support Company would drive there in their own trucks. With only a few minutes to spare the battalion had started its move to Waking. There didn't appear to Lewis to be much of a sense of urgency after the initial panic of having to move from peace-time barrack routine to war routine in the space of a few hours.</p><p>Driving out of the barrack's gate, Lewis had looked out the back of his truck to see the rest of the battalion swing out onto the main road and head for the special train that the railway company had laid on to move the troops. Smiling, lewis thought of all the disruption to the lives of commuters the altered rail timetables would cause. Lighting a cigarette, Lewis sat back on his bench seat and asked if anyone had thought to bring a pack of cards.</p><div class="center">
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</div>It took support company about two hours to drive to Waking Heath along the almost deserted roads. The rail detachment would be about an hour or so behind them. The company had driven along increasingly narrow roads until they were directed off the tarmacked road and onto a rough track by a couple of Monkeys* and civilian police. For the next ten minutes Lewis and his comrades were bounced about in the back of the truck so much that they had to stop their card game, this annoyed Lewis because he'd had a winning hand and there was a lot of money in the pot.<p>Eventually the truck came to a rather sudden stop, the driver switched off the engine and almost before Lewis had really registered where they were, Mr Young appeared and told them to start unloading the trucks. Along with Corporal Mann (the section commander) and the two other L/Cpls, Lewis helped organise the section as it unloaded its kit and weapons. Just as they were unloading the last few boxes of ammunition, Mr Young reappeared and started to show each section where it was supposed to set up their machine guns. While this was going on Lewis wondered if anyone had remembered to organise some breakfast.</p><p>An hour later as the rest of the battalion arrived Lewis' section were putting the finishing touches to their positions in a gully just about a mile from where the invaders were setting up their own camp. With the arrival of the bulk of the battalion came the battalion cooks who set up a field kitchen and shortly there after breakfast was sent out to the rifle companies in big insulated metal boxes called 'Hay Boxes'.</p><p>As he ate his breakfast consisting of bread, beacon, sausage and fried eggs washed down by vast quantities of hot, milky, sweet, tea; Lewis watched as yet another invader aircraft came down from the sky and landed. He watched as the craft disappeared behind a small wood about eight or nine hundred yards away. Keeping his eye on the spot he was surprised when only a few minutes later the same craft reappeared and silently shot up into the sky. Not only were the craft 'bloody' fast it had only taken the invaders a few minutes to unload it and prepare it for flight. He also wondered where these craft where coming from and where they were going to. Once again he asked himself about the non-appearance of the Air Corps.</p><div class="center">
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</div><b>Red Section, over Waking.</b><p>Second Lieutenant Patricia Culpepper-Brown, the daughter of a senior civil servant in the Ministry of Education, was one of only thirty female pilots in the entire Royal Flying Corps and the only female fighter pilot in Twenty-nine Squadron RFC. During the Bavarian War unmarried women had been conscripted to fill support roles in the forces to release men for front line duties. Since the end of the war and female emancipation there had been a growing movement who claimed that if women wanted the benefits of 'full civil rights' they should also help carry the burdens of those 'full civil rights'.</p><p>Being one of the first to volunteer for service in the RFC, Patricia Culpepper-Brown had blazed a path for others to follow. By dint of her hard work and her natural abilities she'd won a place in one of the RFC's première fighter squadrons. Not that she was entirely welcome, a lot of the older officers were, to say the least, 'doubtful' how Patricia and her sister pilots would stand up under the stress and strain of combat operations, assuming that they weren't shot out of the sky the moment any of them met an enemy aircraft.</p><p>Her section leader, Lieutenant Arthur Boulstridge, a pilot with about two years experience, was a case in point. He didn't bother to hide his dislike at having Patricia fly as his wing-woman and had done everything he could to get Patricia transferred to an Army Co-Operation squadron, or even a Transport squadron. But all his efforts had failed, possibly due to the fact that no one, from the Squadron Leader down, actually liked the man. It was Patricia's secret suspicion that she'd been assigned as Boulstridge's wing-woman in the hopes that she'd be so incompetent in combat that she'd get him shot down and killed. But of course, she couldn't prove any of this and the Squadron Leader had always been very polite to her, at least in public.</p><p>Today the squadron had been assigned to attack the strange invader aircraft that where landing on the heathland near Waking. The squadron was flying in three, four aircraft flights of two, two aircraft sections. During the Bavarian War the RFC had learnt some hard lessons about flying in tight 'V' formations and nowadays they flew in the much looser four aircraft formations. The squadron was flying at twenty-thousand feet and approaching the Waking area from the south.</p><p>Any nervousness Patricia might feel about flying her first combat mission was countered by the knowledge that her Fletcher Industries, Mk2 Falcon was the most advanced fighter aircraft in the world. Capable of flying at over three-hundred-and-fifty-five miles-an-hour (more than a hundred miles-an-hour faster than the most modern biplane fighters) the aircraft was armed with four half-inch heavy machine guns. The Falcon was a mid-wing all metal monoplane with a fully retractable undercarriage and enclosed cockpit. Although it was a little sluggish in turns when fully loaded, the Falcon was rivalled only by the Muscovite Type 16 fighter which was almost as fast as the Falcon but was slower in a climb and had an open cockpit. </p><p>Weaving gently from side to side, as a good wing-person should, Patricia kept a sharp look out for invader aircraft. The sky was clear with only a few clouds at about fifteen-thousand feet, so she was totally surprised when Boulstridge's aircraft simply exploded in front of her eyes. For a split second she thought that Boulstridge's aircraft must have experienced a catastrophic failure of some kind. It was only when a dark shape flashed by in front of her that she realised that the squadron was being attacked. </p><p>Taking wild evasive action while banking to her right, Patricia became aware of more aircraft exploding as more dark shapes flashed in from above and behind her. Tightening her turn, Patricia pushed her joystick forward and went into a diving spiral. This was a manoeuvre that she'd practiced before during mock dogfights and had found it to be pretty effective at getting someone off her tail. As she spiralled towards the ground, she looked around desperately seeking out the aircraft that were attacking and killing her fellow pilots.</p><p>It was then she saw it, a large sleek craft about the size of a heavy bomber coming up behind another Falcon. The larger craft seemed to be playing with the Falcon because whatever the Falcon pilot tried to do to lose his attacker the big aircraft simply stuck to his tail like glue but didn't fire. Levelling off Patricia found she was a couple of hundred feet above the strange aircraft and about five-hundred feet to port of the action.</p><p>Checking that the safety's were off on her guns, she increased speed and headed for the attacking craft. Opening fire at three hundred yards, Patricia saw her bullets sparking against the attacker's fuselage but otherwise having little effect that she could see. Pressing home her attack until she was less that one-hundred yards away from the attacker, she fired again. This time she could see her bullets striking home and making holes in the enemy aircraft.</p><p>Just as Patricia was about to break off her attack, she was now so close to the enemy aircraft that she could see the fuselage in fine detail, she saw smoke and flame spread along the side of the craft. Just as she was about to congratulate herself on her first combat victory, the Falcon, the enemy aircraft had been chasing, exploded as large holes appeared in her own starboard wing, to add to her problems smoke started to belch from her engine as she felt her aircraft lose power.</p><p>The engine coughed and spluttered while her damaged wing appeared to flex alarmingly under the strain of keeping her airborne. It was no good, her aircraft was too badly damaged to reach her home base. There was only one option left open to her. Sliding back her canopy, Patricia unfastened her safety harness before pulling the Falcon up into a stall and jumping for her life. Once free of her aircraft she deployed her parachute and hung in the sky. Looking around she searched for any of her own squadron, but could see none. On the other hand she couldn't see any of the enemy and she breathed a sigh of relief. Bailed out pilots risked being machine-gunned by the enemy as they hung like defenceless targets below their chutes, it wasn't supposed to happen but it still did.</p><p>Looking down between her legs, Patricia saw that the wind was blowing her towards a small town. That must be Waking she told herself, with any luck the army or police would pick her up and she'd be back at the squadron by evening. Tomorrow she'd pick up a replacement aircraft and she'd be back to have another crack at the invaders, only this time they wouldn't surprise her like they'd done today.</p><div class="center">
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</div><b>The Brown residence near Waking.</b><p>“Well?” Buffy asked as she and the girls sat around Harry in the front room, as usual everyone had a cup of tea to hand.</p><p>Having gone up 'To Town' that morning Harry had visited his newspaper's offices to see about getting 'accredited' so he could get passed the police and military road blocks sealing off the Heath. Next he did some of his own research contacting several people at both the War Office, Ministry of Science and the Home Office, Normally chatty civil servants were unusually tight-lipped and he got the impression that no one really knew what was going on or what to do about it.</p><p>It was about mid-afternoon when one of his War Office contacts phoned him up and asked to meet him in St George's Park near the ministry. Grabbing his hat and a new notebook and pencil, Harry set off for his meeting. Fifteen minutes later he met with his contact who looked very worried and insisted that everything he said was off the record. What Harry heard made him feel very concerned for Buffy's safety and his own. Leaving his contact, Harry made his way back to his office where he tried to call Professor Scott. When there was no answer and Harry decided that it was time to go home and get his wife and her guests away from the danger area.</p><p>“Well indeed,” Harry sipped his tea to give himself time to compose an answer. “To be honest, from what I've been able to piece together, the government have made a right dog's breakfast of the entire situation.”</p><p>“Tell be something new,” Buffy smirked, the present government were so incompetent that they were due be voted out of office at the next election in six months time.</p><p>“There seems to be several factions vying for control of what's being called, 'The Invasion Scare',” Harry explained, “their opinions range from killing everything as soon as possible on the one hand, to not doing anything to antagonise our guests on the other.”</p><p>“Typical,” Cissy tutted, “can't see a danger even when its staring them in the face.”</p><p>“While all this is going on there's some in the church claiming that these 'aliens' as Prof Scott called them are actually angels,” Harry shrugged helplessly, “and there's some who believe them and are pressuring the government to not do anything to harm them.”</p><p>“I hope that the Alderman isn't listening,” Buffy said.</p><p>“No...actually Alderman Wilson was the one to order the army to surround the invaders,” Harry explained, “he also ordered the Flying Corps to intercept the craft which are landing up on the Heath...”</p><p>“And?” Buffy asked.</p><p>“It hasn't turned out as well as the government hoped,” Harry said sadly, “Three squadrons of our best fighters were scrambled to intercept the invaders...from what I've been able to find out all our aircraft were shot down and there are unconfirmed reports that only one of the invader craft was destroyed.”</p><p>This news was met by a horrified silence.</p><p>“So what happens now?” Buffy asked.</p><p>“I suggest that you drive Cissy and Penny back to Southminster tomorrow morning,” Harry began only to have his wife laugh in his face.</p><p>“HA!” Buffy laughed in her husband's face, “You expect me to totally run off to Southminster and leave you to have all the fun?”</p><p>“But there's going to be fighting...” Harry tried to explain.</p><p>“Of course,” Buffy nodded, “and if there's fighting the soldiers will need gallons of tea!”</p><p>“What!?” everybody said in shock.</p><p>“Remember I'm on the local committee of the Blue Cross and the Women's Association,” Buffy spoke belligerently, “a few phone calls from me and there'll be so many women doing good works you won't be able to move!”</p><p>“Good grief,” Harry sighed defeated before he'd begun.</p><p>“Here-here!” Cissy applauded.</p><p>“As long as we keep Cissy out of the kitchen we should be safe,” Penny pointed out.</p><div class="center">
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<a name="section0015"><h2>15. Chapter 15</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <b>Waking Heath the following morning.</b>
</p><p>Unlike so many of the senior officers from the Bavarian War, Brigadier Marvin liked to have his Headquarters right on the front lines where he could see for himself what was going on. In this way he didn't have to rely on garbled messages over field telephones that invariably had their wires cut by artillery fire. He also didn't have to rely on scribbled notes carried by runners who, if they didn't get lost, got shot by stray rounds. Unfortunately, he still had to use field telephones and runners to take his orders to the front line units as wireless communication was unreliable to say the least. Also with having his HQ so far forward just finding it was difficult as well as dangerous. It seemed that until someone made wireless sets less prone to breakdown a commander could do little to influence the battle once it had started.</p><p>Knowing the difficulties of issuing new orders in the heat of battle, Brigadier Marvin had had his troops dig in around the invaders landing site forming a rough circle about two or three miles across. His line was a lot thinner than he would have liked as he only had four battalions of infantry (about three-thousand-two-hundred men) to cover the perimeter. Instead of a continuous trench line, he'd deployed his troops in company sized strong points covering the most likely avenues of attack. Each battalion kept one of its four companies in reserve. He also kept his one regiment of tanks in reserve to counter-attack any breakthroughs by the invaders. His three batteries of field artillery were deployed to fire over open sights from behind the infantry line and his one battery of field howitzers would be deployed behind a low ridge to the west of the landing zone where the battery's observers could direct fire onto the field of battle.</p><p>“Ah! Major Bloodnock!” Brigadier Marvin called as the artillery Major in command of the Field howitzers arrived in the general's bunker, “Nice of you to join us.”</p><p>“Yes Sir,” Bloodnock saluted before shaking hands with the brigadier, “didn't want to miss the show...sorry we're a bit late, but some damn fool on the railways sent my ammunition wagons to Grantchester.”</p><p>“Dashed inconvenient,” Marvin agreed with a nod.</p><p>“It would have been if I'd had to fight a battle with only my ready rounds available,” Bloodnock explained.</p><p>“Certainly,” Marvin gestured for the major to join him at the map table, “as you can see we're a little thin on the ground so your howitzers and your ability to spot and shift targets quickly will be vital.”</p><p>“Don't worry, Brigadier, we won't let you down.”</p><p>“Never thought you would, old boy,” Marvin smiled before pointing at the map, “I want your battery deployed behind this ridge...”</p><p>“Shouldn't be a problem,” Bloodnock replied after studying the map for a moment.</p><p>“You should be able to break up any attacks from there and I'll see if I can round up some infantry to support you.”</p><p>“Never mind the infantry, Brigadier,” Bloodnock explained, “I've a few machine-guns that aren't exactly 'on the books' for close-in defence.”</p><p>“Well, I won't keep you,” Marvin replied as the two officers exchanged salutes and the artillery Major Bloodnock left the bunker.</p><p>Looking up from the map table, Marvin noticed several men not in army uniform. The man in the police uniform was Chief Inspector Morose of the Waking Constabulary. The man next to him in the clerical suit and the shifty face was Reverend Black who'd been organising the evacuation of people from Waking and its surrounding villages. The third man was...</p><p>“Mr Brown of the Southminster Harald if I'm not very much mistaken,” Marvin advanced on Harry with a smile on his face and his hand out to shake Harry's, “I read your piece on the long term effects of meteor strikes on the planet, most educational and not in the least alarmist.”</p><p>“Thank-you, Brigadier,” Harry shook the officer's hand firmly, “is there anything new you can tell me about our visitors, like what sort of weapons they're using?”</p><p>“So far.” Marvin led Harry over to a loophole in the wall of the sandbagged bunker, “all they've used is some sort of very rapid fire automatic-cannon and what are probably mortars.”</p><p>“Nothing unusual then?” Harry asked, “No 'death rays'?”</p><p>“No,” Marvin shook his head, “no death rays as you put it. The other odd thing is that they only fire if our scouts get too close, say within three-hundred yards of their perimeter.”</p><p>“Unless of course you try to fly near them,” Harry pointed out.</p><p>“My god yes,” Marvin agreed, “they really chewed up the Flying Corps so much that they won't be committing any more aircraft until and if the ground fighting starts.”</p><p>“It was as bad as that?” this was something Harry had only really had unconfirmed reports about.</p><p>“Worse,” Marvin nodded gravely, “more than thirty of our best fighters shot out of the air and another eleven Skua dive bombers destroyed when they tried to attack the enemy landing field. Last night a Flying Corps heavy bomber flew over and dropped flares so they could take photographs of what-ever's going on over there,” he gestured towards the invaders, “they shot him out of the air with some sort of rocket as soon as he'd dropped his flares.”</p><p>“Do you think this means they can see in the dark?” Harry wanted to know.</p><p>“Who knows?” Marvin shrugged, “It might have been that they simply didn't see the bomber as a threat until he dropped the flares.” </p><p>“Excuse me General,” both Harry and Marvin turned to see Reverend Black walk across the staff officer crowded bunker to join them at the loophole, “but has anyone tried to communicate with these...” the Reverend gestured vaguely towards the invader's camp, “...invaders?” Black noticed the looks on the General's and newspaperman's faces, “Don't worry I'm not one of those deluded souls that think our visitors are angels or demons.”</p><p>“To answer your question,” Marvin explained, “no...mainly because they shoot at anyone getting too close to them.”</p><p>“So what do you think they are, Reverend?” Harry asked.</p><p>“People,” Black shrugged, “people like you or me, perhaps they don't look like us but they might be as frightened of us as we are of them. We owe it to civilisation to try to deal with this unfortunate situation peacefully.”</p><p>“I'm sorry Reverend,” Marvin said, “but its too dangerous....”</p><p>“I'm quite willing to risk any danger,” Black explained, “after all I was Chaplin to the Ninety-fifth during the war, this isn't my first bun-fight...”</p><p>“Talking of buns,” Buffy appeared carrying a tray of tea and sticky buns.</p><p>“Ah Mrs Brown!” Marvin helped himself to one of Buffy's buns, “I must say Brown your wife has been doing sterling work along with her ladies from the Women's Association.”</p><p>“Yes,” Harry gave Buffy a hard look, “much against my better judgement!”</p><p>“Thank-you, Mrs Brown,” Reverend Black took a cup of tea from Buffy's tray, “but I must agree with your husband, this is no place for women.”</p><p>“I suppose it was no place for a women when the only pilot to shoot down one of those space craft things was female?”</p><p>“She has a point,” Reverend Black agreed with a nod and a reluctant smile.</p><p>“I'm afraid I have to agreed with your husband my dear lady,” Marvin said between mouthfuls of sticky bun, “but the fighting might start at any minute so I'm afraid I'm going to have to insist that you and your ladies retire to a safe distance.”</p><p>“And how far away is a safe distance?” Buffy asked coldly.</p><p>“About a hundred miles,” Harry muttered quietly.</p><p>“Oh not as far as that, Brown,” Marvin smirked, “I think you're being unduly pessimistic. I'd suggest that you send your ladies home and perhaps go home yourself.”</p><p>“Okay,” Buffy said without any further argument, “I'll see to it at once.”</p><p>Leaving her tray behind Buffy walked out of the bunker.</p><p>“Sensible woman,” Marvin pointed out.</p><p>“Too sensible,” Harry said suspiciously; he knew his wife and she'd given in far too easily.</p><p>“I say Brigadier!” a staff officer called form another loophole, “Something's happening.”</p><p>Moving back to the loophole Brigadier Marvin saw that something was indeed happening. It looked like wave after wave of invader aircraft were taking off and heading silently straight up into the sky.</p><p>“You know what scares me?” Marvin said to Harry in a quiet voice.</p><p>“What's that Sir?” Harry found himself dropping back into his old army ways.</p><p>“How those things are so bloody quiet!”</p><div class="center">
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</div>Outside the bunker Buffy paused as she watched the invader's craft head up into the sky, she had the strongest feeling that something really bad was about to happen.<p>“Cissy, Penny,” she called as she walked over to where the WA had set up their field canteen, “send everybody home...now!”</p><p>“Something happening?” Cissy asked as she took off her apron and rubber gloves, she'd been assigned washing-up duties.</p><p>“Looks like,” Buffy said taking off her own apron, “the General guy's ordered everyone home and I think we ought to go along with his orders.”</p><p>“What about us?” Penny asked.</p><p>“Look I'm staying,” Buffy replied, “but you two should maybe head for Southminster just in case.”</p><p>“No,” Penny replied firmly.</p><p>“Penny's right,” Cissy said, “If you stay we stay...”</p><p>“But everyone else goes,” Buffy ordered.</p><div class="center">
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</div>Unnoticed by anyone, Reverend Back walked out of the general's bunker and paused to look towards the invader's camp. He shook his head, no one even knew what to call the invaders, other than by pejorative terms like, 'invaders' or 'aliens' or even 'demons'. Black was pretty sure that whoever or whatever these visitors from the stars were, they weren't demons or angels. First of all what did god need with spaceships to send his angels anywhere? And as for demons, surely demons would be too evil and chaotic to be able to build obviously complicated contrivances as space ships, so...<p>As far as Black could fathom, these visitors must be civilised creatures not unlike themselves. So, it was his duty to try and communicate with them. Try to find out what they wanted, perhaps they were lost in their wanderings between the stars and simply wanted a safe heaven to rest in before they continued their journey. It was evident to Black that the visitors were more advanced than the peoples of Eden, so therefore they must be closer to god.</p><p>Touching the pocket bible he'd carried through out the Bavarian War, Black made up his mind. He would go out and make contact with the visitors and hopefully start some sort of dialogue with them and hopefully prevent the spilling of blood. Looking around he saw that no one was paying him very much attention, in fact he might as well not be here. Drawing back his shoulders and holding his head high, Black started to walk towards the visitor's camp. Taking out his bible he opened it at random. Glancing down at the passage he smiled as he started to recite the words he knew off by heart.</p><p>“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me...”</p><div class="center">
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</div>Lying behind her sniper's rifle, Pirate First Class Arianna Hahn checked her rifle for about the twentieth time since she'd moved into position. The attack would be launched in approximately one hour's time and her mission was to pick off any of the locals if they got too close and spotted the preparations for the attack. Supported by the rest of her squad, Arianna stopped fiddling with her weapon and settled back into her hide. As she picked up her binoculars and started to sweep her arc of fire she noticed movement to her front. Focusing in on the figure she watched as a native in black clothes came into view. There was something odd about the native and at first Arianna couldn't think what it was. Increasing the magnification on her binoculars, she took a deep breath as her heart lept into her mouth.<p>“A male!” she gasped in shock; could it be that the locals let their males roam about at will?</p><p>There had been rumours that the planet was inhabited by hordes of males all eager to rape and torture to death any woman that dared land on this primitive mud-ball. Not that Arianna really believed all the stories about gang rape and torture, but like every woman from her culture she had a deep seated fear and distrust of males. Lifting her rifle she pulled it tightly into her shoulder before speaking into her comms.</p><p>“Hello, India two-nine this is India two-two-golf, contact, over,” </p><p>“Two-nine, go ahead two-two-golf, over,” came her platoon leader's voice in her ear-bug.</p><p>“One native, advancing on my position, permission to engage, over?”</p><p>“How close is she? Over.” Two-nine wanted to know.</p><p>“<i>He</i>, is about three hundred yards in front of my position and is advancing at a brisk walk, over.”</p><p>“<i>HE</i>?”</p><p>“Yeah, <i>He</i>.”</p><p>“Crap! Erm...wait, out!”</p><p>'Waiting out' nervously, Arianna watched as the male got closer and closer, he appeared to be reading from a book and a little part of her brain started to wonder if he might be one of the evil wizards her mother had read fairy stories to her about. Of course in all those stories there was always a hero to slay the wizard with her trusty sword. But today there were no heroes, just Arianna Hahn and her fifty calibre sniper's rifle.</p><p>“Hello two-two-golf, this is two-nine,” her comms suddenly burst back to life almost making Arianna wet herself, “you are cleared to engage...take the rapist, bastard down Arianna...”</p><p>Concentrating on the native in her sights, Arianna steadied her breathing as she centred her cross hairs on the target's head. Once satisfied that she was on target she pressed the button on the side of the rifle's pistol grip which would keep the weapon on target. Taking up the pressure on the trigger, Arianna let out a long, slow breath and squeezed the trigger all the way back. The firing pin hit the base of the cartridge and the recoil system soaked up the energy of the round being fired.</p><div class="center">
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</div>Walking between the gorse and heather bushes, Reverend Black realised that he'd not fully appreciated the distance between the general's bunker and the visitor's lines, it was a lot further than he'd at first suspected. He'd long ago put away his bible as when he'd opened the book again at another random page he'd come up with a verse that was totally inappropriate for the present situation (the verse had been one with all the 'begatting' in it). Stumbling on an exposed root, Black recognised the sound of a bullet flying through the air just where his head had been.<p>“BLOODY HELL!” he cried as he hugged the ground, he might believe that God would protect him, but he still looked both ways when crossing the street.</p><div class="center">
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</div>“FECK!” cried Arianna surprised at herself for missing such an easy target.<p>“What's wrong?” asked her platoon leader over the comms.</p><p>“I missed the bastard!”</p><p>“You what?”</p><p>“I missed the bastard!” Arianna repeated, “Don't worry I won't miss twice.”</p><p>Switching to thermal imaging she saw the heat signature of the native hiding behind a bush. Aiming very carefully, Arianna squeezed the trigger once more and felt her rifle buck in her hands. Looking through her sniper scope she smiled as she watched her target's head explode.</p><p>“Target eliminated,” she reported moments later.</p><div class="center">
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</div>“BLOODY HELL!” cried a staff officer from where he was observing the invaders through his field glasses, “They've killed the Reverend!”<p>“The bastards!” Brigadier Marvin replied, “If that's they way they want it...” he turned to another of his staff officers, “...pass the order to all artillery batteries and the infantry's mortar units to open fire on the invader camp.”</p><div class="center">
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<a name="section0016"><h2>16. Chapter 16</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
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  <b>First Lieutenant Patricia Culpepper-Brown, DFC, RFC.</b>
</p><p>The last thirty-six hours or so had been a whirl-wind of activity for Patricia Culpepper-Brown. First, she'd had the good fortune to have been picked up by an RFC unit which was moving into a private airfield near Waking. On presenting herself to the Squadron Leader of Five Squadron RFC (a Major Alcock) she found that the RFC 'machine' could (when it wanted to) move at a speed greatly in excess of an ant with some very heavy shopping.</p><p>First of all, Major Alcock told her she was now a member of Five Squadron. Next he informed her that he was promoting her to First Lieutenant and she would be leading Green Flight. Finally he announced that her 'kill' had been confirmed and that she was to be awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. That night as she sat in the tent that was her new home, Patricia dashed off a short note to her father and mother telling them of her good fortune, her new home and finally, not to worry about her.</p><p>The next day Patricia had to wait until almost midday before she and her new squadron were scrambled. Having been sitting in the cockpit of her shiny new Falcon for a several hours the news that she'd be in combat soon was something of a relief. Waiting until red and blue flights had taken off, Patricia taxied her aircraft across the bumpy grass airfield. Checking the wind direction and then the gauges on her control panel, Patricia pushed the throttle forward, the engine roared as she felt her aircraft start to move down the grass runway rapidly picking up speed as it did so.</p><p>Within moments she was airborne, gaining a little altitude she retracted the undercarriage before checking on the positions of the rest of her flight. Leading her flight up to five-thousand feet, she turned towards the battlefield. All morning she'd heard artillery fire coming from the direction of Waking Common. The last briefing she'd received informed her that not only was the Army holding the invaders, but had driven back their attack. Five Squadron's mission was to provide close air support to the army and engage any air assets the invaders might have. The briefing officer told the squadron's pilots that the invaders appeared to have withdrawn their large aircraft and were now relying on their big, heavily armed autogyros, to support their ground forces.</p><div class="center">
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</div>Leading her flight over the battlefield at 250 mph and at about two-hundred feet, Patricia was the first to spot the two autogyros hovering in the cover of a small wood. Detailing Green Two and Four to attack the autogyro to the north, she led her own wingman in an attack on the autogyro to the east of the first enemy aircraft. Reminding her pilots that they needed to get within one-hundred yards of their target before opening fire, she pushed her aircraft into a shallow dive towards her target.<p>The enemy pilot must have spotted Patricia and her wingman because he swung his aircraft to face her and tried to gain some altitude. As the enemy pilot did this he opened fire with the heavy auto-cannon in the chin turret under the front of the aircraft. The large calibre shells smashed into Patricia's wingman's aircraft reducing it to a flaming wreck after just a few hits. Increasing speed to close the distance to her target more quickly, Patricia squeezed the trigger on her joystick and watched as her tracer rounds hit the autogyro smashing the craft's canopy. Still closing with the stricken craft, Patricia kept firing seeing her rounds strike the underside of her target as it reared up like a surprised horse.</p><p>Dangerously close now Patricia let go of her trigger and banked away to the left as the autogyro stalled and fell away to the right. Pushing her throttle all the way forward, she zoomed over the tree tops. Looking in her rear view mirror she saw the autogyro start to trail smoke and flame before it crashed into the woods and exploded. After a moment spent congratulating herself, she called the rest of the flight only to discover that Green Two was the only other survivor. On the plus side Green Two reported that he had seen his target limping away to the east trailing smoke. Realising that she must be nearly out of ammunition, Patricia led her depleted flight home to re-fuel and re-arm. They had won a small victory but the battle wasn't over yet.</p><div class="center">
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</div><b>Sergeant Jack Watkins, 4th Royal Tank Regiment.</b><p>Climbing out of the turret of his Bishop 'A' Mk 2, tank, Sergeant Watkins paused for a moment to unhook the strap of his binoculars that had caught on the hatch handle and was about to strangle him. Once free, he stood up on top of the turret to take a good look around. At present his tank was in a 'turret down' position in a fold in the ground which was just deep enough to hide his and Corporal Harper's tank which had stopped only fifty yards to his right.</p><p>When 'A' Company had gone into action that morning it'd had eighteen tanks plus several armoured support vehicles, now Watkins didn't think that there were more than nine or ten tanks left and company headquarters had been completely wiped out by one of the invader's big autogyros. However, Watkins did have a some reason to feel confident. He'd just seen the same autogyro that had destroyed CHQ shot down by one of the Flying Corps' fighters, he'd cheered when he'd seen that.</p><p>The Invaders had attacked shortly after eight o'clock that morning and had moved towards the Avalonian line leading with several small armoured units followed by a thin line of infantry. The Brigadier had countered by advancing his own armour with a large infantry force in support while keeping sufficient infantry back to man the defence works which had been dug over the last two days. The battle had quickly turned into a vicious melee with vehicles exploding all around and aircraft and autogyros zooming in low over the battle field raining death and destruction on man and machine alike.</p><p>Although the Invader tanks were few in number they were heavily armed and armoured. He'd seen one, which appeared to be armed with rockets, destroy a field gun battery with six perfectly placed shots; Watkins suspected that there was more to these 'rockets' that met the eye. He'd also seen the invader infantry shoot rockets at tanks and aircraft. Sometimes when they were fired at an aircraft the rockets missed. But, it seemed to him that every time they fired at a tank or other ground target they would always hit.</p><p>Another thing that made Watkins unsure as to how the battle would end was that the Invader Infantry appeared to be very hard to kill. He'd seen more than one Invader soldier get up after being hit by machine-gun fire. He told himself that they must be wearing some sort of bullet resistant armour. Up close the Invader soldiers didn't look so impressive, in fact they all looked a little short, however their equipment looked serviceable enough and their weapons were certainly effective.</p><p>Looking over the lip of the hollow in front of him, Watkins saw movement about six hundred yards to his front. Lifting his binoculars to his eyes again he saw an Invader tank driving directly towards his position, it was the same type as had destroyed the artillery battery he'd witnessed earlier in the day. Watching as the Invader tank got rapidly closer, the damn things did seem to be able to move incredibly fast, a plan formed in his mind.</p><p>He had two tanks (all that was left of Second Platoon), if he did this correctly he could catch the enemy vehicle between his two tanks and destroy it. The Invaders might be impressive but they weren't invulnerable. Climbing down from his tank, Watkins ran over to Corporal Harper's tank and explained his thinking before running back to his own tank and climbing back up onto the turret. Taking one more look at the Invader tank he saw that it was now less than two hundred yards away and was still heading right towards him. </p><p>“Start her up Nobby,” Watkins called down to his driver as he climbed into the turret, “reverse gear and hard left stick, then back up until I tell you to stop.”</p><p>“Right you are, Sarge,” Nobby called back as the tank's engine burst into life.</p><p>“Jenkins...” Watkins looked over the top of the tank's main armament.</p><p>“Sarge?”</p><p>“Load armour piercing...” Watkins grinned at his loader/radio operator.</p><p>“Loading AP,” Jenkins replied as he opened the breech of the tank's three-pounder gun and loaded an armour piercing shell, “and there was me thinking we weren't going to need 'em today!”</p><p>It was true, up until this point in the battle Watkins and his crew hadn't engaged any enemy armour, all they'd fired so far was high explosive, case shot and co-ax machine-gun at invader infantry. Watkins was fairly confident that himself and Harper could destroy the Invader tank. The three-pounder was a good weapon even if the type fitted to his tank was the low velocity version of the weapon. Risking getting out of the turret so he could see over the lip of the hollow again, Watkins saw the invader tank was only about fifty yards away and was still coming on fast like it hadn't got a care in the world. Jumping back down into the turret, Watkins got behind the gun sight of his main weapon.</p><p>“DRIVER HALT!” he yelled and 'Nobby' slammed on the brakes bringing the vehicle to a sudden halt, “Jenkins you get ready to reload...and keep reloading until I tell you to stop!”</p><p>“Got it Sarge,” Jenkins already had two additional rounds already in his hands to ram into the breech.</p><p>Even as Jenkins was speaking Watkins saw the Invader tank appear on the lip of the hollow, it had slowed down and seemed to pause for a moment before nosing down into the hollow. As the enemy tank made its way to the bottom of the hollow, Watkins squinted through his sight and centred the sight pattern on the centre of the target's right flank.</p><p>“Firing...” Watkins adjusted his aim as the target continued to move, “...NOW!”</p><p>He pulled the trigger of the main armament, the gun slammed back on its recoil system and his sight picture was obscured by smoke and dust for a moment. When he could see clearly again he saw that the enemy tank had halted. Within seconds Jenkins had reloaded.</p><p>“LOADED!” Jenkins cried as Watkins fired again.</p><p>“Firing...NOW!” once again the target disappeared behind the flash and smoke of the gun firing, but this time Watkins saw Harper's tank fire into the target's left flank.</p><p>Smoke started to belch from the enemy tank as a hatch in the rear of the vehicle was thrown open and two figures started to climb out.</p><p>“CO-AX!” Watkins yelled as he traversed the turret a little to follow the enemy crew up the side of the hollow.</p><p>“LOADED!” Jenkins yelled back as he cocked the machine-gun which was the tank's co-axial weapon.</p><p>“FIRING NOW!” having selected 'MG' on his firing grip, Watkins pulled the trigger once more.</p><p>The co-ax yammered on Jenkins' side of the turret as bullets cut up the ground all around the escaping enemy crew. The two enemy crewers were caught by bursts of fire from both Avalonian tanks and fell in lifeless, bloody bundles onto the ground. After the fury of the engagement, Watkins paused for a moment, the only sounds now being heard were the sound of his own tank's engine and the burning of the enemy tank.</p><p>“Safe!” Watkins called as he applied the safety catches to both of the tank's weapons, “Lets go see what we've got.”</p><p>Climbing out of the turret again, Watkins and Jenkins pulled their revolvers and advanced cautiously on the dead enemy tank. Watkins was gratified to see that both his shots had penetrated the enemy tank. One of the reasons the armour on most tanks was little more than an inch thick was because the Mikarite core of an amour piercing shell would penetrate any practical thickness of armour, in fact the Mikarite would actually set the armour on fire much as it had done here. The only draw back was that to be effective a Mikarite shell had to weigh at least one-and-a-half pounds it also had to be wrapped in lead to prevent it from burning its way through its shell casing.</p><p>Whatever the invaders made their armour out of it wasn't any protection from Mikarite shells. Moving to the rear of the tank, Watkins saw that there was a large hatch in the rear of the tank giving the crew easy access to the interior and an easy escape route; Watkins surmised that the tank's engine must be in the front like on a FV234 Armoured Personnel Carrier. Turning he went to join Corporal Harper who'd also dismounted to examine their victim.</p><p>“What d'ya make of this Sarge?” Harper knelt down next to one of the dead crew and pulled off the body's helmet to expose long, black hair.</p><p>“Bloody hell!” exclaimed Watkins, “Its a fuckin' woman!”</p><div class="center">
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</div><b>L/Cpl Lewis, Support Company, 24th Foot.</b><p>“Got a fag, Corp?” Private 'Chalky' White asked; dusk was starting to fall and the shelling and shooting that had gone on all day had now been reduced to the occasional shell and some desultory small arms fire.</p><p>“'Ere,” Lewis took a battered packet of cigarettes from his chest pocket and tossed them to Chalky.</p><p>Of the section of twelve men and two guns there were only Lewis and Chalky still on their feet, the others had either been killed or wounded. Of the two guns only one was now operational and they only had about a thousand rounds left for it. If the Invaders tried to attack again they'd be able to hold them up for maybe two or three minutes before they ran out of ammunition or were killed.</p><p>“Thanks,” Chalky took a cigarette from the packet, straightened it out and put it between his lips before passing the packet back to Lewis.</p><p>Patting his pockets Chalky realised he'd not got a light for his fag.</p><p>“Got a light, Corp?” he asked hopefully.</p><p>“'Ere,” Lewis said again and passed a box of matches to his comrade, adding, “you sure you don't want me to smoke it for ya too?”</p><p>“Oh! Would you, Corp?” Chalky smiled as he lit his cigarette, “I'm knackered.”</p><p>“Fuck off,” Lewis replied good naturedly, “an' keep ya 'ead down, I think there's a sniper out there somewhere,” he gestured to the battlefield to his front.</p><p>“You do!?” cigarette glowing between his lips, Chalky looked up over the top of the emplacement where the gun had been hidden and immediately got his head shot off.</p><p>Getting behind the gun, Lewis fired off about two-hundred rounds in what he thought was the general direction of the Invader sniper. Not that he believed he had any hope of hitting anything, but it might keep the sniper's head down and discourage any further attacks on his now one man position.</p><p>“Always said smoking was bad for ya ‘ealth,” Lewis told Chalky's corpse.</p><p>Taking the still lit cigarette from Chalky's dead lips he crushed it out before pulling the lifeless corpse to the rear of the dug out. Once Chalky was out of the way, Lewis began to consider his own position. No one would blame him if he destroyed the gun and made his way to the rear, after all he was the only man left alive in his section so...</p><p>So, what? If he left his position there'd be nothing to stop the enemy breaking through the line he'd held all day. Of course now there was only him, one gun and about eight-hundred rounds to try and stop anything. Looking at the piles of empty cartridge cases and used ammunition belts he knew that any attempt to stop another attack would be futile. Though-out the day they'd fired off so many rounds that they'd run out of water for the cooling jackets and had had to pee into the jackets to keep the guns from jamming. No, Lewis told himself any attempt at holding the Invaders would be pointless and end with his death.</p><p>It was almost dark when, Lewis opened the receiver cover of his weapon and took out the breech block, removing the firing pin he broke it in two and tossed the pieces one way before tossing the breech block the other. Drawing his revolver and checking it was loaded he started to crawl slowly and carefully towards the rear. As he crawled passed Chalky he glanced at the man to see his dead eyes staring at him accusingly.</p><p>“Wot are ya looking at Private White?” Lewis demanded but of course he got no answer.</p><p>Shrugging, Lewis rolled over the rear wall of the dug out and found himself in amongst some burnt gorse bushes. Pausing only for a moment to make sure no one was following him, Lewis crawled off into the night and, he hoped, to safety.</p><div class="center">
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<a name="section0017"><h2>17. Chapter 17</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
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  <b>Aboard the TASS Reluctant.</b>
</p><p>“So what's the news?” General Kennedy asked as she poured two mugs of <i>real</i> coffee and took them over to where Commodore Adams was sitting in one of the chairs in the 'conversation area'.</p><p>“About those Slayer Dreams,” Adams began as she accepted her coffee and put it on the table in front of her, “luckily one of the slayers is an astrogator and she recognised one of the main sequence stars in the background of her vision.”</p><p>“That was lucky,” Kennedy said as she sipped her coffee.</p><p>“Sure was, General,” Adams, known to her friends as 'Jay-Jay', replied with a grin, “you could almost think that the Goddess is trying to make us go to a curtain location.”</p><p>“It does look that way,” Kennedy agreed, “I mean what were the chances that one particular slayer was in the right place, was an astrogator and just happened to notice a curtain star in the background of the action and recognise it?”</p><p>“Must be at least a million-to-one chance,” Jay-Jay nodded her agreement.</p><p>“Sometimes million-to-one shots come up,” Kennedy pointed out soberly.</p><p>“So it would seem,” Jay-Jay nodded again, “so what are we going to do about it?”</p><p>“Finally got a reply from the Admiralty on Earth,” Kennedy announced.</p><p>“You did!” Jay-Jay looked at the general in shock, “How long did that take...no hold on...” Jay-Jay paused as she calculated the time needed to send a message to Earth and then receive an answer, “...that must have taken three weeks or more.”</p><p>“Only two,” Kennedy replied.</p><p>“TWO!”</p><p>“Yeah they used a FTL courier,” Kennedy informed her colleague, “they sent the message to a nearby relay station who sent the message on to us using Stella-comm.”</p><p>“That's why I never received any reports of couriers arriving in system,” Jay-Jay mused, “so, what do our 'glorious leaders' want us to do?”</p><p>“We're to head for a curtain star system, I'll give you the complete message later, but in a nut shell; there's reports that a large force of pirates are attacking a planet. A planet that just happens to be near that star the astrogating Slayer noticed...”</p><p>“Curiouser and curiouser,” Jay-Jay smirked, “you think the Goddess is messing with us?”</p><p>“Yeah it does look that way,” Kennedy agreed with a sigh, “whatever, we go to this system, deal with the pirates if there's any there, then go look for 'The First'.”</p><p>“We're going to be stretched pretty thin if there are pirates and The First are on the prowl,” Jay-Jay pointed out.</p><p>“I have good news,” Kennedy grinned.</p><p>“You have?” Jay-Jay replied in surprise.</p><p>“Fleet have sent us two battle wagons and a fleet carrier plus some more destroyers and fleet train ships,” Kennedy explained, “but no one could find me any more troops.”</p><p>“Which ships?” Jay-Jay wanted to know.</p><p>“The battle wagons are the Repulse and Renown...”</p><p>“They're a little long in the tooth,” Jay-Jay mused, “but they'll still be more than effective out here, the carrier?”</p><p>“TASS Enterprise,” Kennedy could hardly contain her amusement at the ship's name, by some stroke of chance the carrier's captain was a curtain Captain Janet Kirk; now what about that for a co-incidence?</p><p>“The Enterprise?” Jay-Jay smiled, “That'll give us fifty more fighters and thirty attack craft, you said something about destroyers?”</p><p>“Five 'S' class,” Kennedy checked the message flimsy that her aide had given to her earlier, “not as up to date as the 'T' class ships we've already got, but they're not to be sneezed at.”</p><p>“Cool!” Jay-Jay grinned, “Now I feel more confident about taking on The First and as for pirates they'll just be so much space dust once our battleships start shooting.”</p><p>“Unfortunately...” Kennedy looked at Jay-Jay sadly.</p><p>“What?”</p><p>“Unfortunately,” Kennedy repeated, “the admiralty back on Earth are under the impression that the Task Force is now too large to be commanded by a mere Commodore...”</p><p>“They're going to replace me?” Jay-Jay asked sadly, “I should have known that when they started to take the task force seriously they'd send some admiral from Earth to take over. I suppose I'll go back to commanding the Reluctant...”</p><p>“Erm...no,” Kennedy shook her head, “you've been reassigned...”</p><p>“I have?” Jay-Jay looked really sad now, not only was she losing command of the task fore she'd be losing the Reluctant too, “So what do they want me to do?”</p><p>“Here are your new orders,” Kennedy gave Jay-Jay a sealed envelope, “and...” Kennedy handed her a small black box, “...those are your Admiral's stars, Commodore Adams you are improperly dressed!”</p><p>“Huh!?” Jay-Jay dropped the envelope and opened the box to see two shiny silver stars, “Wow!”</p><p>“Is that all you've got to say?” Kennedy asked, “Wow? That's going to look good in the history books,” Kennedy stood up and held out her hand, Jay-Jay followed suite, “Congratulations Admiral Adams,” she grinned, “Of course you only got the promotion because I said I wouldn't work with anyone else...even the Admiralty listens to the <i>suggestions</i> of old three star generals...and remember I'm still two grades above you, so don't get ideas above your station, okay?”</p><p>“No, Ma'am, General,” Jay-Jay was still a little shell shocked and hadn't really noticed that Kennedy was messing with her.</p><p>“You can call me 'Kennedy' now you know?” Kennedy told the new admiral, “Coz if you call me by my given name you'll be scrubbing the crew's fresher floor with a toothbrush!”</p><p>“Erm...yeah, right...Kennedy,” Admiral Jay-Jay Adams flopped back down into her chair.</p><p>“Okay,” Kennedy picked up her computer from the table, “now we've got the fun stuff out of the way, lets plan out our campaign...”</p><div class="center">
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</div>Several decks away in the sick bay, Nurse Gloria Monday opened her eyes and sighed with relief; she might be a goddess but humans could be really contrary about falling in with her wishes. It was her own fault really, some times she thought that the whole 'free will' thing had been a bad idea. However, the entire trail of coincidences had held together long enough for the right people to see the danger and actually do something about it. It would have been so much easier for her to have 'commanded' things to be so, but, as she'd just told herself...free will.<p>Plus, well, Gloria was the first to admit that she knew little about strategy and tactics, she'd only just found out that they were two different things, or so Kif/Miller her Goa'uld lover had told her. Gloria was more of an 'Earth Mother' goddess than a goddess who rode into battle on a fiery chariot waving a fiery sword, war goddesses had this thing about 'fire'. On the other hand she liked flowers and trees and babies and fluffy bunnies and cute woodland creatures in general; she didn't much like sharks or snakes but she knew they were necessary. So, everything would soon be in place for her final showdown with The First and this time she was going to kick his incorporeal ass into a celestial dimension so far away he'd never come back.</p><div class="center">
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</div><b>Aboard the Black Freighter.</b><p>“Queen on deck!” one of Amy's bodyguards announced as the door to the Queen's audience chamber swished open and Amy swept into the room her black cloak billowing out behind her.</p><p>Today Amy was dressed in a long black dress, black boots, she was even wearing black underwear and a very black look on her face. Even the most unobservant of her officers could see she was in a <i>black</i> mood. As she walked briskly towards her throne the assembled ship's Captains and military officers all tried to make themselves as small as they could, heads were, no doubt, about to roll and no officer wanted one of those heads to be hers.</p><p>“Remember sweetie,” Stella, Amy's consort, said as the Queen sat down; Stella had been waiting for her wife and queen to arrive, “no turning anyone into rodents...”</p><p>“Okay, okay,” Amy sighed heavily, “no rodents...” looking up she surveyed the faces turned towards her.</p><p>Stella was of course right, Amy told herself that turning anyone into a rodent would be counter productive...but, having her guards toss a few people out of an air lock was a completely different kettle of fish!</p><p>“Okay...” Amy paused for just a moment, “...can any one explain to me how no one noticed that half the population of the Target Planet are male?”</p><p>There were a lot of embarrassed looks and feet shuffling but it seemed that no one had an answer.</p><p>“Well?” Amy asked as she tapped her foot impatiently on the floor.</p><p>“Calm, sweetheart,” Stella whispered, “remember calm.”</p><p>“I'm waiting...” Amy could feel the magics growing in power inside her, if someone didn't say something soon...</p><p>“Erm...” Jenna Oddball, the Freighter's chief communications officer took a step forward, “...I did mention to you, your majesty, that the voices on the native's radio broadcasts did sound a little odd.”</p><p>This was true, Amy admitted to herself. It was then the thought hit her, none of the women before her had probably ever seen a male let alone heard one. So, it wasn't surprising that they didn't know what a male sounded like. Sighing as the magics retreated a little, Amy decided to let it slide...for the moment.</p><p>“Yes you did, Jenna,” Amy agreed before turning to look straight at Oberst Von Rommole, “However that doesn't excuse the reactions of our troops when they found out they were facing human males.”</p><p>It was true the battle to break out of the landing zone had started well enough, but as soon as the pirate troops realised the enemy forces were made up entirely of males things, to say the least, had started to go wrong.</p><p>“It is true that some of our units broke ven they discovered they vere fighting males, Konigin Amy,” the Oberst explained, “It was however the pirate troops that broke and ran the mercenary units held their ground and even launched local counter-attacks. They also held the line when the enemy brought up reinforcements, they must have slaughtered thousands of the locals.”</p><p>“Yes, but that doesn't excuse the fact that our troops are still surrounded in the landing zone and are subject to bombardment by the native’s artillery...”</p><p>“Vich are being countered by orbital strikes on their positions,” Von Rommole pointed out, “Mien Konigin, ve vill have to rethink our strategy if ve vant to vin this war. The natives have proved themselves more resilient than ve ever suspected. Even I expected only von or two battles before ve had subjugated the enemy. But now this looks as if it might turn into a battle of attrition that ve vill lose, ve simply do not have enough troops. If you remember, Mien Konigin, the plan vas to conquer one country and then use local troops backed up by our own forces to conquer the rest of the planet.”</p><p>“So what do you suggest, Frau Oberst?” Amy asked so calmly that she could clearly hear Stella sigh with relief beside her.</p><p>“We strike at their transport systems, their factories and if that doesn't vork at their population centres. These are all targets that our ship's veapons can lock onto and destroy,” Von Rommole explained further, “The veapons on our ships are designed for ship-to-ship combat, they vere never intended to strike at planetary targets. Our only chance of using our ship's veapons effectively is for them to be used against area targets instead of pin-pointing tactical targets...”</p><p>“Alright,” Amy slowly nodded her head, Von Rommole seemed to be talking sense, “draw up a plan and present it to me no later than tomorrow morning...”</p><p>“Mien Konigin,” Von Rommole produced a data crystal from her pocket and stepped towards the Queen intending to give it to her, the crystal was intercepted by one of Amy's slayer guards, “I took the liberty of having my staff draw up a basic plan...”</p><p>“Oh...” Amy accepted the crystal from her guard, “...oh...okay I'll look at it later, now if anyone else wants to say anything now would be like a good time.”</p><p>“I wish to speak,” a large pirate with a prosthetic leg, a cybernetic eye and a small flying lizard perched on her shoulder stepped forward.</p><p>“Captain Wakana Tsukimori?”</p><p>“Arr, that be me,” replied the captain replied in a strong west country accent.</p><p>“Well?” Amy rolled her eyes, obviously Tsukimori took the entire 'talk like a pirate' thing way too seriously.</p><p>“I've been a-thinkin'...” began the captain.</p><p>“You have?” Amy smiled, before adding quietly, “How unusual...”</p><p>“I've been a-thinkin' that we be 'ere on a fooools mission!”</p><p>“You do?” Amy's voice was as smooth as velvet, “Pray explain...”</p><p>“Oh no,” Stella groaned quietly, she somehow knew this would all end badly.</p><p>“AAR! I've bin a-thinkin' that we should forget all this talk about setting up a pirate nation,” the Captain explained, “when we should be a-raidin' an' a-fightin' those Ally bitches and...”</p><p>“Alright already!” Amy held up her hand signalling Tsukimori to stop talking; however, the old space-bitch didn't take the hint.</p><p>In fact she continued detailing why the queen's plan was a bad one and how, under <i>her</i> command they could strip several planets of their valuables.</p><p>“And what happens when the Allys send a fleet after us?” Amy wanted to know, Tsukimori had just mapped out the perfect way for all the pirates present to be exterminated, “Like were do we run to?”</p><p>“There'll be no need t'run...aaar!” Tsukimori replied, “Thems Allys are too busy fightin' the Shedu...so who's with me?”</p><p>Drawing her power sword, Tsukimori brandished it above her head only seconds before Amy turned her into a ferret.</p><p>“AMY!” Stella cried, “I said no turning people into things.”</p><p>“Actually you said no turning people into rodents,” Amy smiled, “A ferret isn't a rodent!”</p><p>“Oh darn,” Stella sighed, in future she'd have to be more precise.</p><p>“Take Captain Tsukimori to the brig,” Amy ordered her guards before turning to her general, “Oberst Von Rommole...”</p><p>“Jawohl mien Konigin,” Von Rommole snapped to attention and clicked her heels.</p><p>“Prepare for planetary bombardment...!”</p><p>“Don't you dare laugh maniacally,” Stella warned, “or you'll be sleeping on the couch tonight!”</p><div class="center">
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</div><b>The Mews flat, Southminster.</b><p>“...according to this,” Buffy looked up from the newspaper she'd been reading and over at Cissy and Penny, “Muscovy, Hokkaido and Bavaria all say this is Avalon's problem, but it hasn't stopped them from calling up their reserves and increasing weapons production. It says here that even the Minor Nations and City States are increasing the size of their armed forces and are buying weapons off anyone who'll sell to them...those new Moscovite fighters are selling like hot cakes apparently.”</p><p>“Do you think these Invaders will attack other countries?” Cissy asked.</p><p>“That's what invaders from outer space usually do,” Buffy said adding to herself, at least they did in all the 'best' sci-fi films.</p><p>“But, they can't get by our boys on Waking Heath,” Penny pointed out, “wouldn't it be silly of them to start wars with other countries?”</p><p>It was true, the newspapers said that the Invaders were being held on or around the Heath. Some of those newspaper stories from the front were written by Buffy's husband, Harry, so she knew that they were at least partially true. But, she kept having the dreams about cities in flames and long lines of refugees attempting to get away from the fighting. It was at this point that Cissy, who was dream free at this time spoke.</p><p>“I don't know about you,” Cissy spoke slowly and frowned a little, “but I really feel I should be doing more than setting up soup kitchens for the displaced persons and finding them places to sleep.”</p><p>Cissy and her UWP friends had been doing some surprisingly good work with disaster relief.</p><p>“You mean something more 'slayery'?” Buffy asked as she folded away her paper and picked up the tea pot. “More tea anyone?”</p><p>“Please,” both of the young women replied.</p><p>“You think we should go out there and slay these invaders?” Buffy asked as she poured the tea.</p><p>“I think we should do what we can to jolly well drive back this menace from the stars!” Cissy announced.</p><p>“Here-here!” Penny cried, “You know my father taught me to shoot, so you can't leave me behind!”</p><p>“Okay...” Buffy put down the tea pot, “...these people have guns so...”</p><p>“So?” Cissy and Penny chorused.</p><p>“So, whatever we do, lets not get shot!”</p><div class="center">
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<a name="section0018"><h2>18. Chapter 18</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
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  <b>Aboard the TASS 'Sergeant Lucy Venkatesan'.</b>
</p><p>Deep down Dawn knew that this was all General Kennedy's fault. At first she'd simply believed that 'The General' had given her command of Number Five Platoon, 'B' Company, First Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment, because of her hard work, command presence and fighting capabilities. It was only after Dawn had discovered that Number Five Platoon, indeed the entire First Battalion was made up of Replicants that she started to think that General Kennedy had some ulterior motives.</p><p>Being an intelligent woman with nearly ten years military experience, Dawn quickly worked out what Kennedy's motives really were. The General wanted Dawn to discover whether the Replicant soldiers could be trusted to stay loyal to the Alliance. The Replicants had been designed and created by the Tyrell Corporation and were supposed to fight against the Alliance if Tyrell had any problems setting up their own little hell away from hell on the planet of Alba. Unfortunately for the Replicants, Tyrell's plans had been thwarted. The Alliance then found they had more Replicant soldiers, each maximised for combat and about as strong as a young slayer, than they could shake a stick at.</p><p>Realising that they couldn't simply be marched into gas chambers or otherwise exterminated, the Alliance had decided to employ them to do what they were designed to do, that is fight. At the time that this decision was made the Alliance was at a particularly low point in its war with the Shedu. Things were going badly and the Alliance was losing ground on all fronts. But all that had changed when the Moosrab joined the war and the Replicants were committed to the fight. Suddenly the Shedu were the ones being pushed back and losing planets.</p><p>So far the Replicant units deployed into battle had remained loyal. However, General Kennedy had issues with the Replicants, she didn't quite trust them. But as they made up about one fifth of her ground forces she would have to use them if it came to a fight with The First's minions. Dawn also had issues with the Replicant's, she'd fought against them on Alba and they'd almost killed her.</p><p>Walking into the Venkatesan's main airlock she saw Number Five platoon already standing in ranks, Platoon Sergeant Hitomi called the platoon to attention before marching over to report to Dawn.</p><p>“Number Five Platoon all present or accounted for, MA'AM!” Sergeant Hitomi reported crisply.</p><p>“Thank-you Sergeant Hitomi,” Dawn replied as she ran a practiced eye over the ranks of power armour clad soldiers.</p><p>Doing a quick head count, Dawn saw that all thirty-one soldiers were present and ready for combat. Each soldier wore a suit of powered armour with their face plates open. On their backs they carried grav packs, they'd need them because today's mission would involve a short EVA to get from the ship to the target. Most of the soldiers carried the standard M-TAR assault rifle, plus grenades and other dangerous pieces of equipment. Two soldiers in each section carried the new point-five-inch, semi-automatic, Light Assault Guns. There were three rifle sections with the forth section being the command section with the unit's comms and ECM operators, plus a missile team and a Multi-barreled General Purpose Machine-gun. However, as they wouldn't need the missile team on this mission the two soldiers who'd normally carry the launcher and its ammunition were instead issued with LAGs.</p><p>“Okay people, stand at ease,” Dawn ordered and the platoon relaxed from the position of attention, “now listen up and I'll go through the briefing one more time.”</p><p>Dawn believed in telling her troops what they were about to do just before they left for the mission because so many people slept through the official briefings.</p><p>“The 'moon' we're going to attack,” Dawn began, “is inhabited by a bunch of short, cute looking demons. But, don't let their cuteness fool you, they're as evil as any big-bad-ugly-assed-demon you might have met before.” Dawn paused to let that sink in for a moment, “The reason we're not going to reduce their moon to radioactive slag is that there might be human prisoners somewhere below the surface. There's a human occupied planet with a human culture too primitive to survive off world contact just one orbit sun-wards from here. The demons have been raiding it for slaves for hundreds of years. So, as we happened to be passing by, the General thought we might do something about this situation, okay so far?”</p><p>“Roger that, Ma'am!” the platoon replied at full volume.</p><p>“Good...” Dawn said much more quietly, “...Sergeant Hitomi, you'll command number one section and the HQ section while I lead numbers two and three sections into the demon's subsurface habitats.”</p><p>“Yes Ma'am,” Hitomi replied, what Dawn had outlined was standard procedure for a raid like this one.</p><p>“Okay,” Dawn called, “five minutes for the Priestess.”</p><p>Watching as the ranks broke up and about half the platoon went to be blessed by the ship's priestess, Dawn remembered that when they'd first arrived the Replicant soldiers had never bothered with the Priestess. Now just over half the battalion had embraced the Goddess, Mother of All. Which was way odd because none of the Replicants had real mothers, they'd all come from artificial wombs designed and built by Tyrell Corp.</p><p>“Okay people!” called Sergeant Hitomi after checking her chronometer, “Fall-in by sections and prepare for action.”</p><p>The soldiers once again formed up into their sections, checked their weapons and loaded them.</p><p>“Make ready!” called Sergeant Hitomi and each soldier cocked her weapon and put on the safety catch before slamming their face plates closed.</p><p>“Hello all stations Five this is Five Bravo,” Sergeant Hitomi's voice came over Dawn's comms, “comms check, over.”</p><p>“Five Actual, okay, over,” Dawn replied and then listened as the rest of the platoon called in.</p><p>Walking over to the airlock door, Dawn gave the signal to the Star Force petty officer in charge of the controls to evacuate the air from the chamber and open both sets of air lock doors. Warning lights flashed as the noise from the warning sirens got quieter and quieter as the air was pumped out of the compartment. Soon there was no sound other than her own breathing as Dawn looked out of the rapidly opening hatch at her target.</p><p>The moon was tiny...as moons went. In fact it was totally in the shadow of the Venkatesan. The surface was light grey and covered in small craters which to Dawn's experienced eyes didn't look entirely natural. In fact some of the craters appeared to have metal hatches which looked a little like old fashioned trash can lids. Shrugging at the weirdness of the universe, Dawn lased the distance to the target. The figure of five-hundred-and-twenty-five-point-five yards flashed up on her face plate.</p><p>“Close enough,” Dawn muttered as she activated her grav-pack, “okay, numbers two and three sections follow me, Sergeant Hitomi give us ten seconds then follow on with the rest of the platoon.”</p><p>Pushing off with her feet, Dawn floated gently out of the compartment, she gave herself a little nudge with her jets and was soon closing with the moon at about ten yards a second. Feeling the weak gravitational pull of the moon, Dawn slowed to about one foot a second, using her jets she swung herself around so she was falling towards the moon feet first. Cutting her jets at just the right moment, Dawn came into land using only her grav-pack. Bouncing a little she came to a halt, before bringing up her M-TAR to the 'ready' position and looking around.</p><p>What she saw was the dusty, light grey surface of the moon with its craters and garbage can lid hatches. The moon was so small that its curvature was <i>really</i> noticeable and Dawn felt that the gravity was so weak she would simply float off into space if she wasn't careful. Convinced more that ever that the satellite wasn't natural she moved with great care. Over to her left she saw some 'tree-like' objects, they were silver and appeared to be made out of metal. Re-identifying them as a 'communications array', Dawn ordered Corporal Chiharu's section to go and destroy them. Calling Corporal Miho's section to follow her, she made her way towards the large air lock door dug into the moon's surface. </p><p>Arriving at the large metal door situated at the bottom of a short, steep ramp, Dawn supervised the placement of the breaching charges before ordering everyone to retire to a safe distance. So far there'd been no sign that the demons inhabiting the moon had noticed her arrival, that would all change soon enough. Once second section and Sergeant Hitomi's force were in place, Dawn ordered the charges detonated. There was a flash followed by pieces of door and clouds of dust flying silently in all directions.</p><p>“FOLLOW ME!” Dawn called as she zoomed forward on her grav-pack jets no more than six inches above the ground.</p><p>Entering the chamber she saw her first demon and shot him with a controlled burst of ten rounds. The demon jerked spasmodically as the rounds hit him until he fell lifelessly onto the ground his blood oozing from the multiple holes in his body. Noticing that she could hear the M-Tars of the lead section firing, Dawn realised that there must be an atmosphere in the chamber which wasn't being sucked out into space. Not knowing if this was due to magic or technology, she ordered everyone to keep their face plates firmly closed.</p><p>Walking over to where her first victim of the day lay, Dawn noted that the demon was three or four feet tall. It had a head and snout rather like an ant-eater on earth and its skin gave the impression that it had been knitted. The creature was a greyish shade of pink and wore some sort of metallic armour over its torso. The armour had done little to save the creature from Dawn's bullets. There had in fact been four demons in the chamber when her troopers had arrived, they were now all dead, one was <i>very</i> dead, each having been hit by two or three HEAP-LAG rounds.</p><p>Noticing that there were three exits from the large chamber, Dawn organised her force into four groups. One group under Sergeant Hitomi would hold the main chamber while the three rifle sections would work their way along the three exit tunnels. After blowing off the doors to the tunnels the Earth soldiers rushed the tunnels beyond.</p><p>Working her way along a tunnel which only just gave her enough headroom for her to stand up straight, Dawn gunned down demons as they tried to run away from her. As they ran the demons cried out in their strange whistling language. Showing no mercy for the demon's pathetic attempts at surrender, Dawn and her troopers shot them all down until they found they where deep under the moon's surface. After shooting two rather small demons who'd been beating ineffectually at her armour with their small fists, she found that she was in a large chamber full of human bones. In the centre of this cave, Dawn saw a strange green, dragon-like creature sitting in the middle of a pool filled with what looked like soup. In a flash she realised what the demons had been using their human captives for. Taking a grenade from her equipment harness she tossed it into the soup pool with its dragon-like guardian. Moments later the grenade exploded sending lumps of dragon and globules of soup flying in all directions.</p><p>“Ewww!” Dawn cried as she looked down at her armour, remembering what the 'soup' was probably made out of, Dawn decided that she'd not wear the armour again until it had been thoroughly decontaminated three of four times.</p><div class="center">
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</div><b>Waking Heath.</b><p>Replacing the empty magazine with a full one, Pirate First Class Arianna Hahn once again sighted her rifle on the native trench line. It was nearly a week since the abortive attack on the natives and both sides had settled down into an uneasy stalemate. The natives had used the time to dig trenches and strong-points and done their best to lay thick barbedwire entanglements in front of their positions.</p><p>Smiling at the memory of the natives coming out into the open under cover of night, Arianna soon wiped the smile off her face. The natives weren't stupid and had worked out that their enemies could somehow see in the dark. Once they'd worked this out they covered their 'wiring parties' with artillery barrages that kept Arianna's and her comrades heads down. The situation wasn't helped by the fact that the pirate forces had little or no artillery to fire back with. They couldn't always rely on helicopter gunship support either. Far too many of the expensive gunships had been destroyed or damaged for command to risk losing more. Finally the ships in orbit couldn't bombard the native's artillery positions effectively because their fire control systems weren't designed to pick out such small targets. Sure they could obliterate the entire area but that had too much likelihood hitting friendlies as the natives.</p><p>But those were all problems for the night, during the day Arianna and her sister pirates not only had to put up with surprise artillery attacks they also had to look out for enemy aircraft. Once again the natives had worked out that if they sent in their older wood and fabric aircraft and flew low to the ground they were unlikely to be hit by the shoulder launched SAMs all the pirates carried. The aircraft would also be lost in all the 'ground clutter' to the sensor systems on the ships in orbit. Once again these systems had not been designed for the tasks they were being asked to do.</p><p>So, Arianna and her friends found themselves forced to dig in and take all the punishment the natives were handing out while someone was hopefully working out what to do next. This really wasn't what she'd signed on to do; the invasion was supposed to be over in a week or two finishing with the total destruction of the native armed forces. After that it should have been a month or so of chasing down the last vestiges of native resistance followed by a period of retraining the natives to use more modern weapons which would be followed by the conquest of the entire planet.</p><p>The entire mission was supposed to take about a year. However Arianna had been sitting in this field for about a week and as far as she could see the natives were no closer to being conquered as they had been before the pirates had landed. It was obvious to Arianna that the natives weren't playing by the rules.</p><p>Whatever, Arianna shrugged, she had a job to do and she'd keep doing it until either someone told her not to or she ran out of bullets. Hearing the quiet ping of her motion detector, she searched along the native trench line until she could see what her sensors had picked up. There it was, the picture came into sharp focus in her sniper scope. A native sniper had just moved into position and was getting ready to fire on the pirate positions. Chuckling a little, Arianna snuggled up to her rifle butt and once again wished she could aim and fire her weapon remotely. The cross hairs flashed green telling her that she was on target.</p><p>The sound of her rifle firing almost came as a surprise to Arianna, she couldn't remember pulling the trigger she'd been so intent on her target. Checking through her sniper scope she saw the native sniper's rifle lying at a crazy angle, of the sniper she could see nothing, he was probably dead.</p><p>“IN COMING!” someone yelled from further down the trench line.</p><p>Instinctively looking up, Arianna heard the first of the native shells explode a moment later, heading for the safety of her bunker, she wonder if the native sniper might have been some sort of trick to draw her out so her position could be shelled. If it had been a trick then these natives were some real crafty feckers who it'd take more than a year to conquer.</p><div class="center">
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</div>Dawn's 'evil' opponents; highlight and right click to follow the link...<p>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ok6CoIwcJ-E&amp;t=106s</p>
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<a name="section0019"><h2>19. Chapter 19</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
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  <b>The Avalonian lines at Waking Heath.</b>
</p><p>Stepping up onto the fire step of the trench Harry raised his binoculars to his eyes and watched the Invader lines for a moment. The army had accredited him as an official war correspondent and had given him back his old rank of Captain. Harry had gone home and dug out his old uniform and although it smelt of mothballs it still fitted him, well more or less. It was a little tight now, but what did you expect after enjoying five years of Buffy's cooking?</p><p>“You better be careful Sir,” Lieutenant Philips, the rather earnest young officer in command of this stretch of trench, told him, “they've got a damn efficient sniper working this stretch of trench, and when he hits you its like he's using an anti-tank rifle.”</p><p>“Yes you're probably right,” Harry stepped down into the tench proper, “if I get killed my wife will be very annoyed with me.”</p><p>“Annoyed?” for a moment Lt Philips looked puzzled, then his face broke into a grin, “Oh very good Sir.”</p><p>“So, Lieutenant,” Harry decided to interview the officer as there wasn't anything to see worth getting killed for, “what's it like up here at the front?”</p><p>“Oh, you know Sir,” Philips shrugged, “Boring...”</p><p>“Nothing changed since the last lot, then?” Harry smiled.</p><p>“Of course I was too young to be in the Bavarian War...”</p><p>“I'd guess you were about twelve or thirteen?”</p><p>“Fourteen, Sir,” Philips admitted, “but I read a lot about it and things haven't changed much since the last war, except the enemy.”</p><p>“Of course,” Harry nodded, Philips sounded like he wanted to talk so he let him.</p><p>“They all seem to be armed with automatic weapons and they can see in the dark, but they haven't got much in the way of artillery, however, when those whirligig things turn up they make up for it.”</p><p>“Apparently they're called 'helicopter gunships',” Harry explained.</p><p>“I prefer calling them 'whirligigs',” Philips replied with a shrug, “If you don't mind me asking, how do you know that?”</p><p>“I helped interrogate some of their POWs,” Harry explained.</p><p>“Sounds jolly interesting,” Philips gestured to a clear piece of fire step and indicated that Harry should sit down, “Is it true that they're all women?”</p><p>“As far as we know,” Harry explained, “so far we've not captured any men.”</p><p>“Dashed odd that,” Philips mused, “I mean, when I joined up I never thought I'd end up fighting gals.”</p><p>“That's what it looks like,” Harry answered with a shrug, “from what I understand their civilisation is made up almost entirely of women.”</p><p>“Then how do they get more women?” Philips asked with a frown.</p><p>“I did say, 'almost entirely',” Harry reminded him.</p><p>“So you did...” another puzzled frown crossed Philips' face for a moment as he thought about what Harry had just said, “...and they come from outer space?”</p><p>“So it would appear,” Harry agreed, “in fact they appear to come from several different planets.”</p><p>“All with no, or, very few men?” Philips asked.</p><p>“So it would seem,” Harry replied.</p><p>“Oh I say...” Philips appeared to be thinking of some thing that he thought was quite funny, “...that means they must be Space Vixens!”</p><p>“Ha!” Harry laughed, “You know I never thought of it like that, do you mind if I quote you?”</p><p>“Be my guest, Sir,” Philips grinned, “and it would be better than just calling them 'Invaders'.”</p><p>“Yes it would...” whatever Harry was about to say was lost when a mortar bomb landed on the lip of the trench about twenty yards down from where he was sitting, “...BLOODY HELL!”</p><p>Harry dived for the floor of the trench as a lot more bombs landed in rapid succession up and down the trench, they seemed to be very accurate as some landed in the trench itself. Hugging the ground as lumps of earth rained down on him, Harry found himself thinking back to when he'd been a young officer of engineers back in the Bavarian War. The Bavarians were good at sudden artillery barrages, but he'd not experienced anything quite like this before. The 'Space Vixens' must either have very rapid firing mortars or lots of them.</p><p>After what felt like a life time the bombardment halted and everything went quiet for a while. However, as Harry pushed himself to his feet, the screams and cries of wounded men reached his ears as did the call for stretcher bearers. Now, on his feet again Harry looked down to where Lt Philips still lay on the trench floor, Harry was about to tell the young officer to get up and see to his men when he noticed that Philips' head was missing.</p><p>“Mr Philips Sir!”</p><p>Harry looked down the trench to his right to see the platoon's sergeant making his way along the trench towards him.</p><p>“It's no good Sergeant...?”</p><p>“Watts, Sir,” Watts looked down to where his officer lay in a rapidly expanding pool of blood, “Poor Mr Philips,” Watts sighed, “would have made a decent officer given time,” he looked at Harry and noticed the Captain's pips on his shoulder and stiffened to attention, “Orders Sir?”</p><p>“What me!?” Harry said in surprise, “I'm a war correspondent not a line officer!”</p><p>“Those say different,” Watts pointed to the medal ribbons on Harry's jacket.</p><p>“Bugger...” Harry looked down at his ribbons, “...they do rather...” he took a deep breath, “...alright Sergeant Watts it looks like I'm 'it', what's the situation?”</p><p>“Six dead, and five wounded, Sir” Watts reported, “no sign of an attack yet and one of the Lawson Guns 'as been lost.”</p><p>“Lost?” Harry asked; the Lawson Gun was the standard light machine-gun issued to the Avalonian army, all infantry platoons had at least three.</p><p>“Buried.”</p><p>“Can we dig it out?” Harry knew that as long as they had their three Lawson Guns they could hold their piece of trench.</p><p>“Already got some men digging,” Watts replied.</p><p>“Very good Sergeant Watts,” Harry looked around him, the trench was still full of smoke but it was starting to clear, “alright then lets stand-to.”</p><p>“Right you are Sir,” Watts nodded, “STAND TO!” he yelled in a voice like a fog horn.</p><p>Pulling his revolver from its holster, Harry broke it open to check that it was loaded, it wasn't. Congratulating himself on checking, it would have been really embarrassing to have to fight a Space Vixen with an empty pistol, he opened his ammunition pouch. With trembling fingers he tried to place bullets into the cylinder of his pistol, but his hand was shaking so much that he dropped two or three rounds before he managed to load the weapon.</p><p>“Here you are Sir,” Sergeant Watts appeared at his shoulder and offered him a rifle, “Its better than that pop-gun and won't mark you out as an officer.”</p><p>Accepting the rifle and a dozen loose five round clips, which he put in his pockets, Harry opened the bolt to find the rifle was already loaded.</p><p>“Thank-you Sergeant,” Harry saw a dead private lying a couple of feet away; walking over to the man Harry took his bayonet, “Bayonets I think Sergeant.”</p><p>“FIX...BAYONETS!” Sergeant Watts yelled at the top of his voice; the platoon's rifles were soon adorned with eighteen inches of cold steel.</p><p>“HERE THEY COME!” came a voice from further up the trench.</p><p>“Time to earn our pay, Sergeant,” Harry climbed up onto the firing step and pushed his rifle out in front of him.</p><p>“Right you are, Sir,” Watts climbed up to stand next to Harry.</p><p>Looking to his front, Harry noticed that the barbed wire in front of the trench was still mostly intact. Lifting his eyes towards the Space Vixen trenches he caught fleeting glimpses of brown clad figures making their way from cover to cover as they advanced towards the Avalonian trenches. Further down the line machine-guns started to fire at the attackers, but didn't appear to be having much effect.</p><p>“If you listen to my advice you'll wait 'til they get a lot closer before telling the lads to fire,” Sergeant Watts cautioned.</p><p>“Why?”</p><p>“They wear some sort of armour and our bullets don't always stop the buggers.”</p><p>“So when would you suggest...?”</p><p>“Less than one hundred yards, Sir.”</p><p>“I'll bow to your superior knowledge,” Harry nodded as he watched as the enemy got closer and closer.</p><p>Just as the Space Vixens reached the outer limits of the wire another mortar bombardment began, but this time it fell on the barbed wire entanglements. Bombs landed tossing great chunks of earth and streamers of wire into the air.</p><p>“So much for our wire,” Harry said as he and Watts cowered in the shelter of the trench.</p><p>Very soon the bombardment stopped and Harry looked carefully over the parapet to see the enemy start to make their way through the remains of the wire. Although the wire had been cut to pieces by the mortar bombs it still formed a barrier and slowed down the attacking infantry. Bringing up his rifle, Harry flipped up the sights and aimed at a Space Vixen who appeared to have got caught up on a large cats-cradle of wire.</p><p>“OPEN FIRE!” Harry yelled.</p><p>“OPEN FIRE!” Sergeant Watts repeated as up and down the trench rifle men and machine gunners began to ply their trade.</p><p>Seeing the soldier he'd aimed at stagger, Harry knew he'd hit her, but was surprised that she didn't go down from a shot that should have killed her. Firing again Harry was gratified to see his target fall either killed or injured. Working the bolt of his rifle, Harry was about to fire again, but had to duck down as the Space Vixens fired back with their automatic rifles and light machine-guns. Although the return fire sent up puffs of earth from the parapet it was surprisingly ineffective and it wasn't long before Harry was up and firing again. After ten rounds he ducked down into cover and reloaded with two clips taken from his jacket pocket. As soon as he was reloaded he jumped up to continue firing only to be pulled back by Sergeant Watts.</p><p>“Change position!” Watts told him.</p><p>“Of course,” Harry mentally kicked himself for not remembering such a simple rule, he could get his head shot of and Buffy would really be angry at him!</p><p>Moving a couple of yards to his right, Harry was just about to get into the fight again when more artillery shells dropped from the sky, this time they came from the defender's guns. The attackers disappeared into a whirlwind of fire, smoke, flying shrapnel and earth. The artillery pummelled the attacking infantry for a good five minutes. During this time a message came down the line that as soon as the barrage lifted they were to go 'Over The Top' and counter-attack. They were to advance no further than the Space Vixen start line where they were to dig in. Checking that his bayonet was firmly fixed, Harry looked up and down the trench to see 'his' men huddled below the line of the parapet.</p><p>“Any moment now, Sir...” once again Sergeant Watts was by Harry's side, “...got a whistle?”</p><p>“erm...no!”</p><p>“Use Mr Philips',” Watts handed Harry the dead officer's whistle.</p><p>No sooner had Harry got the whistle in his hand that the barrage stopped, there was a moment of silence before the sound of whistles being blown came from up and down the trench-line. Blowing on his borrowed whistle, Harry stood up and started to climb out of the trench. Standing on the parapet, he flinched as shells started to land, but this time they were landing about five hundred yards away on where the spotters suspected the Space Vixen's support lines to be.</p><p>Straightening up and clasping his rifle in both hands, Harry started to jog forward only to realise that a mixture of Buffy's cooking and too many pints of beer in the pub were going to be the death of him. There was no way he could keep up with the younger fitter men in his platoon. Slowly he fell behind the advance as he struggled to keep up and find a way through the maze of shell holes and torn up barbed wire. Hearing the 'CRACK!' of a bullet above his head, Harry hit the ground faster than he'd thought possible. Looking up over the lip of the shell crater he'd fortuitously fallen into he saw a Space Vixen soldier in another crater about ten yards away, she was aiming at him and Harry was sure he was going to make Buffy a widow when the Space Vixen's weapon jammed.</p><p>Forgetting that his rifle still carried a full magazine of bullets, Harry jumped up and ran at the Space Vixen. Lowering his bayonet as he closed with his target he saw the look of terror on her face. Throwing away her rifle she tried to scramble out of the shell crater but she was too late. Jumping into the crater, Harry thrust with his bayonet, he felt some slight resistance as he stabbed the woman in the small of the back.</p><p>Crying out in pain and surprise, the Space Vixen squirmed on the end of Harry's bayonet as she tried to escape the pain that lanced through her body. Withdrawing the bayonet, Harry made ready to stab her again but stopped in mid thrust. He was a product of his own culture and in his culture you didn't stab young women in the back with a bayonet. As he hesitated the woman managed to roll over and face her attacker, in her hand she held an automatic pistol, she fired once at Harry the bullet hitting him in the chest.</p><p>“BLOODY HELL!” Harry gasped and more or less fell on the woman spearing her through the chest with his bayonet as he did so.</p><p>Finding it difficult to breath, Harry rolled off the dead woman and lay on his back gazing up at the sky.</p><p>“Fuck!” he groaned, Buffy would be really annoyed with him now.</p><p>Searching in his pockets Harry's blood stained finger's found found a field dressing which he placed over his wound. Finding that he wasn't leaking too much blood he turned his attention to the dead Space Vixen. Searching through the pockets of her smock-like uniform jacket Harry found a slim, black box with a shiny face and some buttons or switches, he didn't know what it was so put it back where he'd found it. On further investigation he found what could only be some sort of photograph, but it was unlike any he'd ever seen. It was in full colour and appeared to show a three dimensional picture of the dead soldier, another woman and a couple of little girls. A family picture he wondered. Remembering something Harry searched through his breast pocket to find the rather battered picture of himself and Buffy on their wedding day, he looked at the picture and smiled.</p><p>“Sorry old girl,” he told the young woman in the picture, “but I don't think I'll be coming home this time...”</p><p>When the stretcher bearers found him, Harry was still clutching the two photographs in his bloody hands.</p><div class="center">
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<a name="section0020"><h2>20. Chapter 20</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
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  <b>Captain Patricia Culpepper-Brown, DFC, MC, Royal Flying Corps.</b>
</p><p>Experience had taught Captain Culpepper-Brown that the only way to survive in enemy airspace was to fly low, fast and use violent and unpredictable evasive manoeuvres; and this was what she was doing right now. Her mission was to support a counter-attack by friendly ground forces against an armoured thrust by the Space Vixens. Hugging the contours of the ground Patricia flew at nearly three-hundred miles-an-hour towards her target. Out on her right her wingman, Second Lieutenant Blackwell, a pilot with only ten hours experience in Falcons was having difficulty keeping up with her and maintaining his position. But it couldn't be helped to do anything other than what Patricia was doing now would mean the almost certain death of herself and her wingman.</p><p>Not to mention the lose of two of the last hundred or so Falcons still flying. The RFC had taken horrendous loses fighting the Vixens. Twenty-nine squadron, Patricia's original squadron had been totally eliminated. The next squadron she'd flow with had received fifty percent casualties on their first mission flown against the Vixens. Now part of One-hundred-and-ten Squadron, Patricia was acting more like a squadron leader than the flight leader her rank stated she was.</p><p>Dodging the small arms fire and the occasional rocket fired at her by the Vixens, Patricia and her wingman swooped down and across a shallow valley before zooming over the crest of the ridge ahead of them. Putting the noise of her aircraft down she saw the Space Vixen tanks exchanging fire with the army units attempting to block their advance. But the tanks were not her target, the Flying Corps had discovered that shooting at Space Vixen armoured vehicles was pointless. No, today she was hunting the Space Vixen infantry.</p><p>Closing rapidly on the tanks, she saw the Space Vixen infantry supporting the attack of the tanks. If she could drive off the enemy infantry the army could bring its own tank and artillery units into play and destroy the Space Vixen armour. Checking that the safeties on her guns were off, Patricia hardly noticed when her wingman was blown out of the air by an enemy rocket. Concentrating on the figures below she fired a long burst of machine gun fire before flying over the enemy troops and dropping the two canisters of napalm she carried under her wings.</p><p>Released from the weight of the underwing ordnance, Patricia's Falcon surged ahead and almost exceeded its top speed. Bringing her aircraft back under control, Patricia banked to the right and flew around the target area in a wide curve. Watching out of her canopy she saw the smoke and flame of her napalm still rising into the air. Coming out of her turn she lined herself up on a group of enemy infantry who'd not dispersed after her first attack. Going into a shallow dive, she lined up her aircraft, closing to about two-hundred yards she fired again and kept on firing as she saw her rounds chew up the ground and watched as enemy soldiers died under her hail of fire, the big, heavy half-inch bullets cutting their bodies in to bloody pieces.</p><p>Hearing bullets hitting her aircraft, Patricia pulled up and weaved violently from left to right, a rocket flashed by her canopy leaving a white smoke trail in the sky before it headed back to earth and exploded. Still carrying out evasive manoeuvres, Patricia decided it was time to head home to her airfield where she could refuel and rearm. Turning tightly to her left she was surprised to see a Space Vixen 'Helicopter Gunship' heading towards her the muzzle of its auto-canon flashing as it fired at her. Huge balls of light flashed by her canopy as Patricia weaved from left to right and up and down. Getting slightly above the enemy craft, Patricia dived at her foe all guns blazing. The gunner in the gunship hesitated for a second before firing back because she was frightened of hitting the machine's rotor disc. However the enemy pilot pulled up the noise of the gunship so the gunner had a clear shot at Patricia's Falcon as it closed. </p><p>Feeling the impact of the enemy canon shells hitting her aircraft, Patricia wasn't surprised when her vision was obscured by clouds of black smoke coming from her engine. It was then that her guns ran out of ammunition and fell silent. Screaming an incoherent cry of rage, frustration and anger, Patricia held her course and bored in on the enemy aircraft. The Falcon was too close and flying too fast for the gunship pilot to turn away, she did however manage to turn to the right and increase speed. But not by enough. The Falcon hit the gunship amid ships causing the helicopter's jet fuel to explode and reducing both aircraft to one giant fire ball that crashed to earth causing the gunship's remaining weapons to detonate and blow a large crater in the ground.</p><div class="center">
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</div><b>Pirate First Class Arianna Hahn.</b><p>Her unit had be assigned to support the armoured thrust towards the native's headquarters. At first the attack made good progress with the natives either fading away before them or being destroyed by the tank’s big guns. After about fifteen minutes there was little opposition to their advance and the native HQ was said to be just over the next ridgeline. But it was all a cunning native trap. Just as Arianna and her sisters were starting up the slope of that 'last' ridge, native artillery opened fire raining down torrents of high explosive forcing the infantry to go to ground.</p><p>After five minutes or so, the artillery barrage lifted and started to shell the reinforcements coming up to support the projected breakthrough. Just as Arianna lifted her head out of the dirt she heard the familiar sound of native armour squeaking and grinding its way across the churned up ground. Getting herself into a firing position, Arianna fired at the native tanks. The bullets her sniper's rifle fired could easily penetrate the tank's armour. Firing five rapid shots at a tank about two-hundred-and-fifty yards away, she was gratified to see it come to a halt and smoke start to billow from its engine compartment.</p><p>Just as Arianna shifted target to the next tank in line it exploded with a mind numbing roar as it was hit by a tank firing from her right. Suddenly that one friendly tank became the centre of attention for ever native tank in sight. The friendly tank managed to get off two more shots destroying another two native tanks before about five of the weird native armour piercing shells hit it and it burst into flames as it's armour dissolved.</p><p>Turning back to fire on the remaining native tanks, Arianna was distracted by the sound of engines coming from the sky. Looking up she saw one of two native aircraft burst into flames and explode after being hit by a shoulder launched SAM. The other aircraft flew through everything that was fired at it and fired its own guns. Ducking down, Arianna didn't see her comrades getting hit, she only looked up again after the native pilot had flown over her position. Dragging her rifle around she fired a couple of times at the aircraft but she didn't think she'd hit it.</p><p>Hearing her platoon leader shouting for them to continue the advance, Arianna climbed cautiously from the crater where she'd taken shelter and rushed forward using whatever cover she could find towards the native's positions. Some six sense made her look up and behind her. Once again she saw the native aircraft flying towards her its guns spitting death. Leaping into a nearby shell hole, Arianna escaped death by the skin of her teeth. It was as she lay in the bottom of her hole that she felt the heat of the flames wash over her and heard the screams of her sisters as they died a fiery and agonising death. The native pilot had dropped napalm and had incinerated most of Arianna's platoon. Sure everyone was wearing ballistic armour but they weren't Combat Environment Suits and wouldn't save you from the flames.</p><p>Looking out of her crater in shock, Arianna was vaguely aware of the sound of the native aircraft's engine fading away into the distance. Around her she just had time to witness the destruction of her company before the native artillery started to rain shells down on her again. Diving to the bottom of her hole, Arianna curled into a little ball and wished she'd never come to this Goddess forsaken mud ball.</p><p>The barrage eventually lifted and Arianna slowly dug herself out from under the earth that had nearly filled her haven and suffocated her. Looking around she saw an unfamiliar landscape. Say what you will about the natives, she told herself, but they certainly knew how to get the best out of their primitive artillery. Pushing herself up into a kneeling position, Arianna searched around for her rifle but couldn't find it, pulling her pistol from the holster on her thigh, she got to her feet before immediately hitting the ground again as bullets cracked around her head (it was at this point she found she was missing her helmet). Crawling to the edge of her crater she looked carefully over the edge to see long lines of brown-clad native infantry advancing towards her their rifles and long bayonets in their hands.</p><p>Not wishing to be shot, her armour would stop most bullets but the force of impact would break bones and knock her down, Arianna didn't know what to do. Realising she didn't want to die she threw away her pistol and the grenades in her pouches. Next she looked for the piece of green rag she'd stuffed into her pocket. It had been noted that the natives would wave a green flag or rag to indicate that they wanted to talk or surrender. Crawling back to the lip of the crater Arianna started to wave her green rag frantically in the air. Snatching back her arm when a couple of shots were fired in her direction, she heard what had to be an officer shout at his men.</p><p>Lifting her arm again and waving her rag for all that she was worth, Arianna waited until the natives were close before she stood up and raised her hands in token of surrender. The war might be over for her, but there was still a chance that these males might gang rape her and torture her to death just for the fun of it, after all, they were males so could they be trusted to observe the laws of war?</p><div class="center">
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</div><b>Sergeant Jack Watkins, 4th Royal Tank Regiment.</b><p>“Up on to the track, right stick an' foot down hard, Nobby!” Sergeant Watkins ordered as his tank came out of the bushes and drove onto the narrow farm track in front of him.</p><p>So far it had been a good day for the Avalonian forces, they'd stopped the Space Vixen thrust cool and driven them back with heavy loses. Things mush be going well, Watkins mused, as the enemy were surrendering in larger and larger numbers instead of fighting it out. Not that the Avalonian troops had had it all their own way, the cost in lives was incredibly high but with reinforcements arriving on the battlefield hourly, there was the scent of victory in the air now. When the counter-attack had started there had been six tanks in Watkins' platoon, now there was just his tank. The others had fallen victim to the Space Vixen 'Whirligig' machines or the rockets the enemy infantry fired at you from tubes on their shoulders. On the plus side as the day had progressed there seemed to be fewer Space Vixen flying machines in the air, and the enemy infantry appeared to be running short of those damn rockets.</p><p>Looking out of his turret, Watkins saw the next piece of cover and directed his driver to take the tank into the shell blasted wood to his left. Slowing down the tank skidded to the left and off the road and into a crater-field. The engine revved loudly as the tank nosed into the first crater and out the other side. Hanging on tightly so he wouldn't be tossed out of his turret by the vehicle's wild bucking, Watkins urged his driver on until they came to the edge of the blasted wood.</p><p>“Dead slow Nobby,” Watkins cautioned, “we don't want to throw a track.”</p><p>The broken down trees and exposed roots made a quite effective anti-tank obstetrical, but, if anyone could pick a path through the wreckage, Nobby could.</p><p>“Where do you want us?” Nobby called up from his driving position.</p><p>“Hold on,” Watkins studied his map for a moment, before saying, “keep going this way until we get close to the edge of the wood, that should be in two-hundred yards or so.”</p><p>Onward went the tank as it negotiated the blown down trees until eventually it reached the far side of the wood and Watkins directed his driver into a good firing position. With the engine idling Watkins could clearly hear the sound of artillery firing and aircraft going by, but he never saw any of them. However they did sound like Avalonian planes, one of the nasty things about the Space Vixen's aircraft was that you rarely heard one approach until it was too late.</p><p>“So where's the enemy, Sarge?” Jenkins the third member of the crew squeezed his head and shoulders out of the turret hatch.</p><p>“You be patient, Jenkins,” Watkins ordered, “they'll be here soon enough.”</p><p>The fact was that Sergeant Watkins was wondering where the enemy was too. The information he'd received from some chinless wonder of an officer commanding an infantry company, was that the enemy in this part of the battlefield were in full retreat. Having studied his map, Watkins had decided that this was the most likely route for the enemy to pass by on their way to their camp. He'd rushed ahead to cut them off or at the least slow them down so the infantry could catch them. There was nothing worse than an enemy who retreated faster than you could advance; they tended to reorganise and come back to punch you on the nose! Bringing his binoculars to his eyes, Watkins saw the first of the enemy infantry appear over a low ridge to the north. From what he could see they were in good order and retiring rather than retreating.</p><p>“Load HE!” Watkins told Jenkins as he got down inside the tank.</p><p>Traversing the turret to his left and putting his eye to his telescope Watkins saw the enemy infantry as they made their way across the blasted heath. Estimating the range to be between one-thousand and eight-hundred yards, Watkins decided to wait until the enemy got closer. The tank was armed with a low velocity three-pounder gun and to be honest the HE shells it fired didn't do that much damage. It seemed to take forever for the enemy to get within effective range, waiting until his target was about four-hundred yards away, Watkins pulled the trigger of his main armament. The shell landed in the middle of a small group of enemy soldiers knocking a few down and scattering the rest.</p><p>“Load canister!” Watkins ordered, before adding, “Driver advance, right into the middle of 'em!”</p><p>Knowing that eventually he'd become the target of the Vixen's anti-tank weapons, Watkins decided to drive into the enemy formation. That way the enemy soldiers wouldn't be able to fire for fear of hitting their comrades. Driving as fast as Nobby could manage, Watkins fired his co-axial machine gun and canister rounds from his main armament. The enemy scattered like chickens before a fox, but some still fired back their bullets pinging off the tank's armour.</p><p>“TANK! TRAVERSE RIGHT!” Yelled Nobby from down in his driver's cab.</p><p>Pulling his turret around to the right, Watkins saw one of the enemy's light tanks appear from behind a ruined building.</p><p>“LOAD AP!” Watkins cried as he centred his gun sight on the enemy tank which appeared not to have seen him.</p><p>“LOADED!” screamed Jenkins in Watkins' ear.</p><p>“FIRING...NOW!” Watkins pulled his trigger and the main gun slammed back of its recoil system as it sent the shell towards its target.</p><p>The AP shot hit the side of the Space Vixen tank and moments later the vehicle exploded in a mushroom cloud of flame and smoke.</p><p>“GOT 'IM!” Watkins cheered before turning his gun back on the enemy infantry.</p><div class="center">
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<a name="section0021"><h2>21. Chapter 21</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
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  <b>Oberst Von Rommole.</b>
</p><p>Standing over the big, electronic, map table, Oberst Von Rommole tried to work out where everything had gone wrong. In the background her staff officers were packing up the equipment in the command tent while outside panicking pirates were making for the shuttles and the safety of orbit. However, far too few of those shuttles were coming back for a second or third load. Some shuttles had boosted for orbit as soon as the latest defeat had become general knowledge.</p><p>As the commander of her own Mercenary Jaeger Unit, Von Rommole knew her shuttles would wait for her and wouldn't be hijacked by pirates desperate to escape the wrath of the natives when they arrived. The combat computer had estimated that at least two-thousand pirates would be left behind, probably more. It was as she thought about these numbers, that Von Rommole realised where she had gone wrong. It was the pirates, plus the orbital bombardment had been nowhere near as effective as she'd hoped. In fact if her intelligence briefings were to be believed the bombardment had been wildly inaccurate and had only stiffened the resolve of the locals to resist.</p><p>In both of the major battles with the native forces the mercenary units had broken through the enemy lines. But as the pirate second echelon units had passed through the mercenaries the natives would counter attack. Hit by a foe they believed to have been beaten the pirates would come to a confused halt, then, realising they were being attacked by males they'd panic and run. The mercenary units would then have to try and save the day which caused them even higher casualties in their ranks.</p><p>The one thing that a mercenary commander couldn't afford were high casualties. Today the mercenary leaders had appeared to see what was happening and decided to leave the pirates to their fate. The mercenaries had their own shuttles and armed transports, most of them would escape to safety. Which was exactly what Von Rommole had ordered her own troops to do, this was why everyone was packing up and 'getting out of Dodge' (an odd saying that no one knew the derivation of) as fast as they could.</p><p>The conquest of Eden should have been so easy, true there were only five or six thousand combat troops but their hi-tech gear should have made up for lack of numbers. But the natives had fought back with more bravery and skill than expected. True, the invading forces had killed thousands of them but there always seemed to be thousands more to replace the casualties. Plus there'd been the native's anti-armour weapons. The cores of their anti-armour rounds were made out of something that was similar to Element 451, or so her tech people told her. Whatever it was it literally set fire to her AFV's armour completely negating one of her most effective weapons systems.</p><p>“Oberst?” Von Rommole looked up and turned to see one of her staff officers standing beside her, “Oberst?” the young captain repeated, “We must go, the Edenites will be here in minutes!”</p><p>“Is it that bad, Sarah?” Von Rommole asked.</p><p>“Yes Oberst,” Captain Sarah O'Reilly replied as she gently took hold of her commander's arm and tried to guide her towards the exit.</p><p>“Der Teufel they are!” Von Rommole almost laughed at the idea of running away from such primitives, “Go,” Von Rommole ordered and gestured to where the rest of her staff was making a rapid exit towards the shuttles, “don't worry, I've no intention of dying here, now get along with you.”</p><p>Coming to attention, Captain O'Reilly snapped off a parade ground salute before heading on out after her sisters in arms. Smiling as she watched the young officer disappear out of the tent, Von Rommole picked up an assault rifle and a bag full of spare magazines before heading out of the tent on the opposite side from the shuttles. Once out in the open she saw a scene of total panic. Pirate soldiers were running for the last few shuttles or were being shot down a they tried to swarm aboard the mercenary's shuttles; she began to think that the figure of two-thousand abandoned soldiers was a little too conservative.</p><p>Hearing firing she turned towards the sound and started to walk towards it, she'd not gone far when she came across a group of mercenaries who while they were retreating were still holding together as a unit. In the distance, not more than a couple of hundred yards away she could see the brown-clad Edenite troops making their way through the panicking pirates. In a flash she saw what needed to be done. If those Edenites weren't stopped or just slowed down even more women would not be going home today. </p><p>“HALT!” Von Rommole called as she held up her hand and walked towards the mercenaries, by some miracle the troopers came to a halt and looked expectantly at her; she took a firmer grip on her weapon as she walked through the unit and towards the Edenites, “Advance with me...”</p><div class="center">
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</div><b>Captain 'Teddy' Meldrew, MC, Seventy-Fifth Foot.</b><p>All things considered Captain Teddy Meldrew would much rather have been somewhere pleasant with Rose, the maid who worked for Madge Cartwright. As it was he appeared to be at the very tip of one of those arrows that got printed in the newspapers to show the direction of a military advance to people who were safely eating their breakfasts miles away from the front.</p><p>Having been called back to the army about a week before, Meldrew had found himself in command of 'B' Company, Third Battalion of the Seventy-Fifth Foot. Just in time to get involved in this battle in fact. Most of his soldiers were reservists called back to the colours but it was odd how quickly everyone (including himself) had got back in to the army way of doing things.</p><p>Casualties today had not been excessive, 'B' Company had lost about a dozen men killed and twenty or so wounded. The low casualties were due in main to the fact that the enemy were running for their lives. It hadn't even been this bad during the last few days of the Bavarian War when the Bavarians had realised they'd lost and were trying to evacuate as many troops as possible from the Eastern Isles. At least there the Bavarian units had kept cohesion and had made an orderly withdrawal. Today the Space Vixens were running as fast as they could for the big aircraft that took them up into the sky, it was more like herding sheep than fighting.</p><p>Of course there were always a few enemy units that stood their ground. 'A' Company on his left flank had been hit by a counter attack that had caused serious casualties. But the enemy had been too few to make much of an impact as 'D' Company had moved up to support 'A' and his own company had got around the enemy flank. The Space Vixens had fought until they'd all been killed, wounded or captured, it was this little action that had caused him most of his casualties.</p><p>Coming to a halt, Meldrew stood in wonder at the scene before him. He watched as what appeared to be the last of the giant aircraft lumbered into the sky totally unaffected by the attacks made by the few remaining RFC fighters flying over the battlefield. The Vixen's aircraft had left behind a huge, milling crowd of Vixen soldiers most of whom appeared to be unarmed. But that could all change if someone in that mass took command and told people to pick up the weapons that were lying all around.</p><p>“Sergeant-Major Sutherland,” Meldrew called for his senior non-commissioned officer.</p><p>“SIR!” Sutherland was at Meldrew's shoulder almost before the words were out of his mouth.</p><p>“What took you so jolly long?” Meldrew asked as he adjusted his monocle, “Look, it seems to me that we've won, but we need to take these bally people prisoner before they realise that they can still jolly well cause us trouble, understand?”</p><p>“SIR!” Sutherland replied making Meldrew wince at the volume.</p><p>“Pass the word that the chaps are to take prisoners and to only fire if fired upon,” Meldrew ordered, “Then send a runner to BHQ and tell them that the enemy are defeated and need to be taken prisoner before they get their bally courage back, understand?”</p><p>“Right you are, Sir,” Sutherland already had his note book out and was scribbling a message for the runner to take back to BHQ.</p><p>“Jolly good,” Meldrew said before taking a firm grip of his revolver and walking towards the enemy, “Come on chaps,” he called as he started to move forward, “a crate of beer to the section that takes the most prisoners!”</p><p>There was a quiet cheer from 'B' Company as they moved off towards the enemy.</p><div class="center">
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</div><b>The Mews, Southminster.</b><p>It was so quiet at home that Cissy had decided that after breakfast she'd go and visit Buffy. The Meldrum house was almost empty these days; Cissy's father was spending almost every day either at the factory or in 'The City'. Both had been hit by Space Vixen projectiles fired from their spaceships in orbit above the planet. However the Space Vixens appeared to not be able to aim their bombs any better than the RFC's heavy bombers, so damage was quite light on what were probably the intended targets. Hits on workers housing and other non-military targets were quite common and civilian casualties had climbed quite dramatically. They were worse even than those caused by Bavarian airship raids back in the Great War.</p><p>Her Uncle Teddy had been called back to the army as had Stokes the butler and Twelvetrees the footman, even Ivy the maid had left and joined the army. Ivy leaving had been the fault of Cissy's sister, Poppy. The fact that the world had been invaded by terrible creatures from outer space didn't seem to change Poppy's life style. Poppy spent her time shopping and going out to clubs until early in the morning, she still expected to be waited on hand and foot. But, as there was only poor Ivy to do everything that Stokes and James Twelvetrees had done as well as her own work, well, even a sweet girl like Ivy would eventually give up and leave.</p><p>This only left Mrs Lipton, the cook, Livingston, the boot-boy, who was too young and had such terrible eyesight that the army wouldn't let him join and Mrs Wheeler, the Char. To make matters worse, Penny had gone to live at her father's house in the country, while her father spent most of his time at the House of Lords. This all left Cissy at something of a loose end, even the vampires appeared to be keeping a low profile and she was so bored that she'd even considered joining the Royal Flying Corps or the Royal Naval Air Service, both organisations were crying out for pilots and Cissy could fly, more or less, it was just that she'd not been taught how to land before the planet had been invaded.</p><p>Although the alien Space Vixens appeared to have been defeated, there was still a chance that they might re-invade somewhere else. Plus there were more worldly foes to worry about. The Bavarians were talking about pressing their claims to the Eastern Isles again. But, as the Royal Navy hadn't been affected by the invasion and the Bavarian navy was lying at the bottom of the Avalon Sea, Cissy for one didn't pay much heed to Bavarian sabre rattling. In the East the Moscovites and the Hokkaidoians were gearing up for another major fight. Even the Minor Nations and the City States were eyeing their neighbours with lustful eyes, after all they'd all spent a lot of money on new weapons and as soon as they were delivered it would be a shame not to use them.</p><p>Taking a cab and paying the exorbitant cab fare, the price of petrol had sky-rocketed since the start of the invasion, Cissy found herself in the mews where Buffy and her husband had their town flat. Walking down the cobbled mews towards Buffy's door, Cissy reminded herself that Harry, Buffy's husband, was away reporting from the front. With the fighting more or less over; there'd been no serious combat for the few days, the army had simply been collecting prisoners, Cissy expected Harry would be home soon.</p><p>Coming up to Buffy's door, Cissy rang the bell. At first there was no answer so Cissy rang the bell again, it was one of those newfangled electric ones. Just as she was thinking that Buffy wasn't home, Cissy heard footsteps from within, followed by the sound of the door being unlocked. Slowly the door opened to reveal Buffy still dressed in her dressing gown. This, Cissy thought was odd, it was nearly eleven o'clock and Buffy wasn't one to sit around in her night things this late in the day.</p><p>“Hello Buffy,” Cissy said brightly, “I thought I'd...” the words died on Cissy's lips as she noticed how red Buffy's eyes were, “...I say old thing, have you been crying, is there something wrong?”</p><p>“You better come in,” Buffy croaked.</p><p>Stepping into the flat, Cissy closed the door before following Buffy through into the living room. Here Buffy slumped down on the settee in front of the unlit fire, for a moment Cissy wondered why Buffy hadn't lit the fire as it was a chilly morning. Sitting down next to Buffy, Cissy looked around for some sort of evidence to explain why Buffy was acting in such a strange way, she could find none. As Buffy seemed reluctant to speak, Cissy tried again to find out what was wrong.</p><p>“I say, old thing,” Cissy hesitated for a moment before taking Buffy's hand in her own, “what's wrong? I've never seen you...”</p><p>Buffy took a screwed up piece of paper from her pocket and handed it to Cissy.</p><p>“What's...?” Cissy began to ask as she let go of Buffy's hand and smoothed out the paper on the low table in front of the settee.</p><p>It only took her a second or two to recognise what she was looking at, with a heavy heart, Cissy began to read the words printed on the wire message form.</p><p>'His Majesty's War Office regret to have to inform you that your husband, 13250633 Captain Harry James Brown has been posted as Killed in Action on or about the...</p><p>“Oh my god, Buffy!” Cissy cried as she dropped the piece of paper on the floor and turned to comfort her friend.</p><p>Holding her sobbing friend, Cissy tried to imagine what Buffy was feeling right about now; she tried to imagine what she'd feel like if it had been Penny who'd been killed, but she couldn't. When her mother had died Cissy had been too young to really understand what was happening. All she'd felt at the time was sadness and yes, a little anger, that her mother had left her and the rest of the family. Deep down, where it mattered, Cissy couldn't imagine what Buffy must be feeling right now; Buffy and Harry had loved each other deeply like they were two halves of the same person, what was it like to have half of yourself taken away suddenly like this? Cissy didn't know, she couldn't possibly know, but she did know she should be there for the woman who she admired, respected and yes, loved (in a completely sisterly way); so she fell back on what she'd seen other people do in similar circumstances.</p><p>“Right!” Cissy said in a firm voice as she gently let Buffy go, “I'll go make a pot of good, strong tea and then when I get back I'll light the fire and warm the place up a bit. After that we'll see what needs to be done...</p><div class="center">
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<a name="section0022"><h2>22. Chapter 22</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p><b>Author’s Note</b> I posted Chapter 17 twice! The correct chapter 18 has now been posted.</p><p>
  <b>Aboard the Black Freighter.</b>
</p><p>Captain Rita Haywood commanding the Black Freighter got up from her command chair to survey the bridge. All around her the officers and rating of the bridge crew worked to make sense of the recent change in situation, moving from workstation to workstation as they shared information. In the background she could hear the communications section field increasingly panicked requests from shuttles leaving the planet's surface and looking for safe haven aboard the Freighter. Taking a deep breath Haywood realised that what she'd been doing for the last several hours was simply nothing more than crisis management, it was now time to impose her will on the situation.</p><p>“Report, Number One,” Haywood called over the muted hubbub of the bridge.</p><p>“Captain...” Hilary Grey, the Freighter's first officer replied as she consulted he hand computer, “...all but five...no make that four ships, the White Star has just transited to FTL, have left the area. Most of them didn't even bother to wait to pick up their ship's detachments.”</p><p>“Bastards,” Haywood muttered angrily.</p><p>“As a result,” Grey continued, “we have more than nine-hundred additional personnel aboard, if we take on very many more it'll put a serious strain on our life support systems...there are at least another dozen troop shuttles heading towards them, they could be carrying around a thousand more troops...”</p><p>“Order the approaching shuttles to take up position around the Freighter and await orders,” Haywood ordered, “any shuttle approaching closer than one-thousand yards will be fired upon without warning. Have the ships security detachment disarm anyone who isn't a regular member of the Freighter's crew then organise the refugees into groups of about one-hundred and see what can be done about feeding and watering them, injures?”</p><p>“Doctor Amatangelo and her staff claim to be swamped by combat injuries but she appears to be managing well enough,” Grey explained.</p><p>“Good,” Haywood nodded, “anything else I should know?”</p><p>“Well,” Grey shrugged, “there is some good news...”</p><p>“There is!?” Haywood raised an eyebrow in surprise, “Don't keep it to yourself Number One, lets hear it.”</p><p>“Well, Captain, The Freighter is undamaged and is in all respects ready to fight or fly and...”</p><p>“There's more!?” Haywood asked in mock shock.</p><p>“There are no Ally ships in the system...”</p><p>“Sentry Drone Five-Eight-Alpha has stopped broadcasting,” called the Scanning Officer from her workstation before adding, “Drone Five-Eight-Bravo has also stopped broadcasting...”</p><p>“Jinxed...” Haywood said under her breath, before asking, “...how far away are those drones?”</p><p>“About two light minutes, ma'am,” replied the Scanning Officer.</p><p>For a moment Haywood pondered the fact that just over two minutes ago something, probably something fatal had happened to her drones. When the fleet had entered the system they had seeded the area around the target planet with Sentry Drones. These were un-womaned sensor platforms with powerful communications arrays. Normally when a ship's sensors would scan an area the scanning signal would have to go out to its target and then return to its mothership effectively doubling the time taken to detect an intruder. The Sentry Drones effectively halved the time needed to detect an intruder and increased the coverage of the area a ship could scan.</p><p>“Number One,” Haywood stood tall on her bridge.</p><p>“Captain?”</p><p>“Call the ship to battlestations...”</p><p>“Aye-aye, Captain,” Grey replied before formally announcing the ships changed status to the ship's crew; touching her comms unit on her right wrist, Grey spoke calmly and clearly, “Battlestations, battlestations, all hands to battlestations...this is not a drill!”</p><p>“Miz Ramos,” Haywood turned to face the teenage cadet who was acting as Captain's Runner, “my compliments to the Queen and ask her if she could come to the bridge asap?”</p><p>“Ma'am!” Miz Ramos snapped to attention before turning away from her captain and heading for the lift that would take her down to the deck on which the Queen's apartment was located.</p><div class="center">
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</div><b>Two and a half minutes earlier.</b><p>Appearing out of FTL, the TASS Thunderer, one of Task Force Sixty-Nine-Alpha's three 'T' class Destroyers, took about thirty seconds for her systems to adjust to being in normal space again. Once the ship's systems had settled down the Thunderer's AI, an entity known as Jessica to her crew, reported the presence of two unidentified, un-womaned, sentry drones. The Thunderer's gunnery officer trained two of her three, four-point-seven-inch mass driver mounts onto the drones and waited for her captain's order to shoot. Once Captain Quinn was sure that the drones were un-womaned she ordered them destroyed. </p><p>Moments later both drones were hit by two four-point-seven-inch super dense kinetic penetrators and were utterly destroy. Seconds after that Jessica started to scan the wreckage to determine the drone's origins while at the same time scanning local space for any more hostile craft. Thirty seconds later the rest of Task Force Sixty-Nine-Alpha appeared out of FTL. Four minutes after that Jessica reported the presence of three starships in orbit around the third planet from the sun.</p><div class="center">
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</div><b>Aboard the TASS Reluctant.</b><p>“Recon drones away!” Willow called from her workstation on the bridge of the Reluctant.</p><p>“Thank-you, Number-One,” replied Commander Jerri Farwoman, the newly promoted captain of the Reluctant.</p><p>With Commander Adams having been promoted to Admiral and moving her flag off the Reluctant, the ship's First Officer had been promoted to the vacant captain's chair, while Willow as the next highest ranking officer now filled the First Officer's slot while still carrying out her, Science Officer, Sensor and Counter Measures tasks.</p><p>“Guns?” Captain Farwoman asked.</p><p>“All weapons armed an' cleared for action,” Faith replied from her gunnery station next to Willow's, “my threat board is clear...apart from some pieces of space junk.”</p><p>“Thank-you, Miz Lehane,” Captain Farwoman replied with just a hint of a smile, “talking of space junk...what do we make of it?”</p><p>“Unidentified manufacture, Captain,” Willow replied after studying her read outs for a moment.</p><p>“If I might interject?” Tara the ship's AI asked.</p><p>“Certainly,” Captain Farwoman invited Tara to speak.</p><p>“I have received a communication from Jessica, the AI aboard the Thunderer,” Tara continued, “she says she's seen something like this before...”</p><p>“And?” Farwoman asked.</p><p>“And, it would appear that the drones were of Pirate manufacture,” Tara explained.</p><p>“Thank-you, Tara,” Captain Farwoman said as she settled back into her command chair.</p><p>“I'm receiving telemetry from the recon drones, Captain,” again Willow bent over her control board, “I'm reading two...no make that one large target in orbit around the third planet...”</p><p>“One or two ships, Number One?” Farwoman asked.</p><p>“Definitely one ship, the other went to FTL as we scanned it,” Willow explained, “firming up on the remaining target...its big...over one-hundred-and-eighty-thousand-tons...Tara has confirmed its the pirate mothership, The Black Freighter!”</p><p>All the known information about the Black Freighter scrolled across Willow's screens. While big the Black Freighter wasn't that capable; one of the Task Force's 'T' Class Destroyers could eliminate it relatively easily. Generally speaking pirate craft weren't warships they were more like armed merchant ships. More than capable of rendering a civilian ship defenceless but totally out classed by even relatively small warships.</p><p>“Message from the Task Force commander, Ma'am,” reported Sub-Lieutenant Dollie Mountshaft the ship's communications officer.</p><p>“What has Commodore Lauren have to say?” Farwoman wanted to know.</p><p>As senior Captain of TF69A, Captain Lauren Y344CGF, commanding the CSS Virginia (the Moosrab pocket battleship) had been placed in command of the task force by Admiral Adams.</p><p>“We are to proceed at best speed to the third planet and destroy or capture any hostile craft in orbit around said planet,” Mountshaft read the Commodore's message off her screen.</p><p>“Oh, jolly good,” Farwoman smiled, “Number One, bring the ship to battlestations if you please.”</p><p>“Aye-aye, Captain,” Willow replied as she pressed a button on her board which set sirens howling all through the ship, “Battlestations, battlestations,” Willow's amplified voice drowned out the sirens for a moment, “all hands to battlestations, close all airtight doors and don vac-suits, this is not a drill!”</p><div class="center">
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</div><b>Aboard the Black Freighter.</b><p>After Captain Haywood had explained the general situation to Queen Amy, she waited for the Queen to give her new orders.</p><p>“Suggestions?” Amy asked as she took hold of Stella's hand and drew comfort and strength from the other woman's presence.</p><p>“Honestly, your majesty, they're not good and too few,” Haywood replied.</p><p>“Give them to me anyway,” Amy persisted.</p><p>“We can't run and we can't fight...” Haywood began.</p><p>“But this is The Black Freighter,” Amy pointed out, “the biggest, baddest pirate ship in the known galaxy of course we can fight a few Ally patrol ships!”</p><p>“If we were facing patrol ships I'd agree,” Haywood said sombrely, “but we're not...”</p><p>“We're not?” Amy asked a little crestfallen.</p><p>“No, Ma'am,” Haywood began to explain, “there are six Ally warships heading our way, one's a Moosrab pocket battleship, another's one of the new Star Force armoured cruisers, there's also a light carrier and three, we think they're, 'T' Class, Destroyers...”</p><p>“Oh...” Amy replied in a very small voice, deep down she knew that the Ally destroyers could reduce the Black Freighter to so much space dust by themselves.</p><p>“What do we do?” Amy asked, it really looked as if she was out of options.</p><p>“We could surrender,” Captain Haywood suggested.</p><p>“Out of the question,” Amy replied belligerently; surrender would mean a long drop with a short piece of rope tied around the necks of all her officers and hard labour for life for the other ranks. The non-combatants would probably get away with a year or two in a re-education camp; the Alliance might have a strict policy of executing pirates but they wouldn't harm the wives, children and other non-combatants.</p><p>“There is one idea, Ma'am,” Haywood said slowly.</p><p>“Which is?” Amy asked, “At the moment I'd be willing to try anything, I've no wish to be hung by the neck in low gravity.”</p><p>“We toss the refugees outta the airlock and get the hell outta here!”</p><p>“What...?” just for a moment Amy seriously considered the Captain's suggestion; but then she thought again.</p><p>Time and circumstances had changed Amy, she'd never really been a 'bad' person but once upon a time she might have ordered the deaths of hundreds of women just to save her own neck and that of her wife Stella. But now...but now she understood that responsibility came with power. There was also the nagging thought that if she ordered the refugees spaced five seconds later she wouldn't be a Pirate Queen any more and she rather liked being Queen Amy.</p><p>“No, again, that's out of the question,” Amy replied with all the determination she could muster.</p><p>“Then I have another option,” Haywood smiled and Amy knew she'd passed some sort of test.</p><p>“Which is?” Amy wanted to know.</p><p>“We send everyone back down to the planet...”</p><p>“But...?” Amy began to object.</p><p>“I've had the cartography section map the planet surface and they've found a large uninhabited, at least uninhabited by humans, island sufficiently remote from the planet's civilisations to allow us to build a colony and survive contact with the locals.”</p><p>“That sounds like a good idea,” Amy smiled as hope was reborn in her heart, “what's the catch?”</p><p>“To make it work we'll have to strip the Freighter of most of her technology,” Haywood started to explain, “the colony will need at least one of the ship's smaller fusion reactors, plus there's weapons and supplies to tide the colony over until they can build their own...it'll all take time.”</p><p>“How much time?” Amy wanted to know.</p><p>“About a day, perhaps a little more,” Haywood replied.</p><p>“Let me guess,” Amy sighed sadly, “the Ally's'll be here in about a day?”</p><p>“Or a little less,” Haywood nodded her agreement, “with a skeleton crew I should be able to hold off the Ally's long enough for the last shuttles to get everyone planet-side...”</p><p>“But you said...” Amy was shocked by what her Captain and friend appeared to be suggesting.</p><p>“Yes, Ma'am,” Haywood said, “you know the old saying; there are old pirates and bold pirates, but no old bold pirates, its the price we pay for the lives we live.”</p><p>“Of course,” Amy nodded, “make it so...”</p><p>“Number One, commence evacuation,” Haywood ordered.</p><p>“Stella,” Amy turned to face her wife, “get the babies and get down to the planet, you're in charge until I join you.”</p><p>“No way!” Stella replied forcefully, “I'm a washed up actress and singer what do I know about being in charge and anyway I want to stay with you!”</p><p>“Miz Chase!” Amy turned to the Replicant that carried Cordelia Chase's soul, “Take the Queen Consort and place her on the first available shuttle, use force if you have too!”</p><p>“Of course Ma'am,” Cordelia snapped to attention and saluted.</p><p>“Miz Chase!” this time it was Captain Haywood who spoke, “Belay that order...!”</p><p>“Captain?” Cordy frowned for a moment until she guessed at the next order she'd receive.</p><p>“Take the Queen, Queen Consort and their children and place them aboard the Royal Yacht for transport to the planet surface...”</p><p>“Why you!” Amy raised her hand to cast a spell but was tapped on the back of the head by Cordy's sidearm rendering her unconscious.</p><p>“Oh, yes,” Haywood grinned, “you may use the minimum force required to complete your task...and Miz Chase...”</p><p>“Captain?”</p><p>“...there's no need for you to come back.”</p><p>“Its been an honour and a privilege, Captain,” Cordy said as she motioned several of the Queen's guard force forward to pick up the unconscious Queen and lead away the weakly protesting Queen Consort.</p><p>“Like wise,” Haywood and Cordy shook each others hand; watching as the 'Royal' party left the bridge, Haywood glanced over at her First Officer, “Number One...Hillary, you're to leave on the last shuttle the Queen'll need good officers on the planet...also there's no reason for you to die, after all First Officers are really only there to repeat everything the Captain says.”</p><p>“Aye-aye, Captain,” Grey replied smartly, “I was getting bored always being in your shadow, so, I was thinking of striking out on my own anyway.”</p><p>“Good,” Haywood said, “now we've got that settled we better get this evacuation organised.”</p><div class="center">
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</div><b>TF69A.</b><p>The three ‘T’ class destroyers, Titan, Terror and Thunderer had taken up position about thirty light seconds ahead of the rest of the task force which had now been joined by the factory ship A-TASS Kobayashi Maru and the TASS 'Sergeant Lucy Venkatesan' the troop transport carrying the Replicant Battalion. As TF69A moved through space the destroyers engaged and destroyed any sentry drones that came into range of their sensors.</p><p>“Time to target?” Captain Farwoman asked.</p><p>“At my mark,” Willow replied, “Twenty-two hours and fifteen minutes...” Willow paused as her chronometer counted down to the next whole minute, “...mark!”</p><p>“Guns, anything on your threat board?”</p><p>“My threat board is still clear, Captain,” Faith replied formally.</p><p>“Right,” Farwoman sighed heavily, “I don't care what our illustrious commodore says I'm not having the ship's company stay at Battlestations for nearly a day...Number One set condition orange through out the ship.”</p><p>“Aye-aye Captain,” Willow replied before passing on the Captain's orders.</p><p>“Any word from the Admiral?” Farwoman asked Miz Mountshaft.</p><p>“Nothing Captain,” Dolly answered.</p><p>“They did transit into normal space, right?”</p><p>“I have confirmation from one hour ago, Ma'am,” Dolly confirmed.</p><p>“Perhaps she's got nothing to say, Captain,” Willow suggested.</p><p>“Maybe so...” Farwoman agreed as she got up from her seat, “...okay, everybody keep a sharp look out for pirates or those mystery ships all the slayers dreamt about, if anyone wants me I'll be in my ready room. Number One, you have the bridge.”</p><p>“Aye-aye Captain,” Willow replied formally, “I have the bridge.”</p><div class="center">
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<a name="section0023"><h2>23. Chapter 23</h2></a>
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  <b>The Eden System.</b>
</p><p>It might surprise some to know that modern space combat has certain similarities with naval warfare in the age of sail. Under sail a warship could possibly sight an enemy vessel on the horizon. Once the decision to engage the enemy had been made the warship might then bear down on its target at about four-miles-an-hour (it really depended on the strength of the wind), the speed of a brisk walk. Closing with the enemy could take hours.</p><p>In space combat, a hostile ship could be detected several light minutes away, light travelling at around twelve million miles a minute meant that a ship could take hours even days to come into effective weapons range. Of course missiles could be launched at the target from almost any range, the most up-to-date, long range missiles were quite capable of hunting a target without any aid from their mothership. However there was no guarantee that the target wouldn't escape into FTL by the time the missiles got anywhere near their target. Alliance combat doctrine stated that a ship should make a number of short FTL 'hops' to close the distance to the target more quickly. Once again this tactic has its drawbacks. Engaging ones FTL drive or coming out of FTL too close to a planet's gravity well could result in unforeseen, and often times, fatal consequences for a starship. Civilian ships, particularly liners, come no closer than a week's travel from their target while in FTL.</p><div class="center">
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</div><b>Aboard the TASS Reluctant.</b><p>“Time to target?” Captain Farwoman asked with a barely concealed yawn.</p><p>“Less than two light minutes, Captain,” Willow replied as she tried to stifle her own yawn.</p><p>Even with the ship's crew at Orange Alert, life wasn't easy, you had to keep your vac-suit on for a start which made life very uncomfortable.</p><p>“Some days I miss the old uniforms,” Willow said to no one in particular; the old style Star Force uniforms could act as an emergency space suit, thus negating the need to be dressed in a vac-suit prior to combat.</p><p>“Yeah, but if ya needed to pee y'self you just got wet,” Faith pointed out, “at least in a vac-suit the nanites take care of all that crap.”</p><p>“Was that a play on words, Miz Lehane?” the captain, who'd been listening in on the conversation asked.</p><p>“Sure was,” Faith grinned.</p><p>“Very good, Guns,” Captain Farwoman replied straight faced.</p><p>“An' what about space flight totally making your boobs bigger?” Willow pondered; it was a well established fact that bust size increased the longer you stayed in space.</p><p>“Yeah, mine have gone up two cup sizes in fifteen years,” Faith pointed out.</p><p>“Sure that's not just old age and things beginning to sag?” the Captain asked with a grin.</p><p>“Hey Captain,” Faith called back, “as I remember it you were more or less flat chested when ya came aboard, how look at ya!”</p><p>“It must be the low gravity,” Willow pointed out, “and it does explain the Moosrab.”</p><p>“Nah...” Faith shook her head, “...the Moosrab are just weird I bet they get implants every time they get promoted.”</p><p>It was an article of faith in Star Force that the bust measurement of Moosrab Space Navy enlisted ranks increased as they got promoted.</p><p>“Time to target?” Farwoman asked again.</p><p>“One minute and thirty seconds light speed, Captain,” Willow replied after checking her read outs.</p><p>“Okay,” Captain Farwoman took a deep breath, “put us at battlestations at one light minute any reaction from the pirate?”</p><p>“As we've got closer I've seen a lot of shuttles coming an' going from the mothership to the planet surface...mostly personnel I think, but there were also a lot of shuttles carrying only their crew so I'm guessing they're taking supplies to the planet.”</p><p>“At a guess I'd say they were evacuating their ship,” Farwoman mused, “so, they're going to try and fight the entire task force.”</p><p>“They'll last about thirty seconds,” Faith pointed out, “brave but ultimately futile.”</p><p>“Which would be long enough to ensure that the last of their shuttles totally gets into the planet's atmosphere,” Willow pointed out, “they know we won't follow them down if the planet has a human population without first going through the correct contact procedure,” she gasped as she ran out of air.</p><p>“Alright Guns, how about waking them up with a few missiles?” the Captain asked.</p><p>“Erm, Ma'am,” Willow called, “don't you think we should wait to hear what the Commodore wants before we start shooting things up?”</p><p>“Darn it!” Captain Farwoman punched the arm of her command chair, “I'm too used to operating independently.”</p><p>The mission of most Terran Alliance cruisers was to patrol Alliance space either by themselves, or in company with a couple of destroyers and blast to atoms anything that shouldn't be there. Usually there wouldn't be time to ask for instructions from higher authority, so cruiser captains were given a lot of latitude in what they did or didn't shoot at. However, most cruiser captains tended to be cautious souls and would shoot first and ask questions later. They took the old recruiting slogan, 'Star Force; keeping the universe safe for your children' very seriously. </p><p>“Miz Mountshaft,” the Captain turned to her communications officer, “contact the flag ship and enquire what her intentions are.”</p><p>“Pirate ship is turning to face us,” Willow reported.</p><p>“Virginia is firing missiles,” Faith reported half a second later; incoming missiles were known as 'vampires' because they were indicated by a small 'V' in the ship's holo-tank, out going missile were marked with an 'S' for 'stake'. </p><p>“Now that's just not cricket!” Farwoman complained, “Not sportin' at all, not letting a girl get her shot in first.”</p><p>“Pirate is deploying counter measures,” Willow said as she studied at her screens.</p><p>“Won't do her much good,” Faith pointed out, “the Virginia loosed one of her thirty-six inch missiles, they're feckin' effective and more like a small ship than a missile plus they're capable of high sub-light speeds. When it gets into attack range it'll break up into a dozen nuke tipped, independently targeted missiles.”</p><p>“That pirate is putting up a lot of point defence,” Willow reported, “she's even using her main armament...wait...wait...the pirate has launched a counter strike...twenty-four missiles heading back towards the Virginia.”</p><p>“Battle stations if you please, Number One,” Captain Farwoman ordered, “Helm close the distance with the Virginia until we're about a hundred miles off her port bow. Guns bring our point defence on line and prepare to engage those incoming missiles...”</p><p>“Wow! That was quick!” Willow gasped.</p><p>“What's happening Number One?” the Captain wanted to know.</p><p>“The pirate has launched another full volley of missiles at the Virginia...NO! At us!”</p><p>“Forget protecting the Virginia, Guns, slay me some vampires!” Captain Farwoman ordered.</p><p>“Aye-aye Captain,” Faith acknowledged as her fingers flew over her battle-board bringing weapons up to readiness and preparing her own counter missile strike, “Counter missile strike away!”</p><p>“Pirate has launched again,” Willow reported, “another twenty-four missiles this group is headed for the Mary Rose...the Mary Rose is launching fighters.”</p><p>“I wish they hadn't,” Farwoman muttered, “Guns, watch those IFFs we wouldn't want to shoot down out own fighters now would we?”</p><p>“No Ma'am,” Faith agreed as she made some adjustments to her missile's priorities.</p><p>About half way between TF69A and the pirate ship nuclear explosions blossomed, momentarily heating the cold vacuum of space to temperatures that rivalled those at the heart of a sun. The missiles that survived this first encounter sped on towards their targets as point defence weapons started to track them and waited for the order to fire.</p><p>“Counter measures, Number One,” the Captain ordered.</p><p>“Counter measures away,” Willow replied as she set the counter measure dispensers to fire automatically, very soon the Reluctant had her very own halo of active and passive counter measures drones, “the pirate's counter measures and point defence has taken out the Virginia's missiles...they're good, I really want a look at their fire control! </p><p>“Laser anti-missile defences are engaging,” Faith called out, “two incoming missiles destroyed.”</p><p>“WHAT THE HELL IS THAT!?!?” Willow shouted out unprofessionally.</p><p>“Miz Rosenberg...” the Captain was about to say something but was interrupted by Dolly Mountshaft at her comms station.</p><p>“Captain...”</p><p>“What?” the Captain turned to look at the junior officer.</p><p>“Message from Admiral Adams...” Dolly paused while she read through the message again, “...the Admiral reports that ships matching the description of the hostile ships from the slayer's dreams are entering space through some sort of rift in the fabric of space...”</p><p>“Oh...my...Goddess!” Willow breathed almost silently, before adding in a much loader voice, “The First!”</p><p>“...the Repulse and Renown supported by fighters from the Enterprise are engaging. The Admiral wants us to come to her location at our best possible speed.”</p><p>“Acknowledge that Miz Mountshaft,” Captain Farwoman ordered, “Anything from Virginia?”</p><p>“No Ma'am,” Dolly said and went onto explain, “It's quite possible that she didn't receive the Admiral's message, Moosrab comms work on different frequencies to our own...”</p><p>“Damn it! Isn't it always the way that comms goes down at a vital point in the narrative?” once again the Captain punched the arm of her chair, “Helm...bring us about one-hundred-and-eighty degrees,” no Star Force captain would fail to support another, “Comms inform the Commodore of my intention to engage the First's forces. Guns make ready for a general engagement.”</p><p>All the officers around the bridge acknowledged their new orders.</p><p>“Number One, what do you make of it?” Farwoman wanted to know.</p><p>“In the holo-tank please Tara,” a three dimensional picture of the space round the Reluctant appeared in the holographic tank at the front of the bridge, “the rift is about two-hundred-thousand miles away...” about the distance from the Earth to the Moon, “...those ships,” Willow high lighted the two hostile ships that had passed through the rift; the bow section of a third ship was just starting to transit the spacial anomaly, “are in excess of one-thousand-seven-hundred yards long and they appear to be launching fighters...”</p><p>“Comms tell the Mary Rose to redirect her fighters to the new threat, any word from the Virginia?”</p><p>“No Ma'am,” Dolly replied as she continued to try and hail the Moosrab pocket battleship.</p><p>“Captain,” Willow called out, “we might be out of comms with the Virginia but the Commodore has turned her ship around and is following us in.”</p><p>“Good,” Farwoman smiled as a salvo from the Virginia's eleven inch mass drivers flashed passed the Reluctant heading towards the lead hostile ship, “Guns, fire at will.”</p><p>“Aye-aye, Ma'am,” no sooner had the words left Faith's mouth than the Reluctant's main armament began to shoot as missiles lept from her launchers.</p><p>Two-hundred-thousand miles was more or less point-blanc range for space combat. With projectiles and missiles flying at near light speed the time on target was only five or ten seconds. Watching as their first projectiles hit their targets and penetrated the hostile ship's hull the bridge crew were disappointed not to see more damage. The super dense penetrators were smashing into the target but the hostile ships were so big they didn't appear to be doing very much damage. The Reluctant's six-inch penetrators must be doing terrible internal damage to the target. At the speeds the penetrators travelled nothing could stop them. The Reluctant's own Langdon armour was only designed to soak up the energy of smaller calibre rounds, it was there so the Reluctant couldn't be destroyed by someone firing a light gun at her. The armour also provided added protection from nuclear near misses.</p><p>The Virginia and the Reluctant got in two or three salvoes before the hostiles returned fire. The First's ships were using energy weapons which heated up the hull plates of their targets before punching through. However, the beams didn't penetrate far into the target ship because the vaporised hull plating made an effective counter measure by disrupting the destructive energy of the beam. Willow also quickly discovered that by filling the space around the Reluctant with 'chaff' (basically strips of silver paper) the effect of the energy beams was lessened.</p><p>“Engineering reports several hits on the hull and Environmental reports that we're losing atmosphere,” Willow reported.</p><p>“Thank-you Number One,” Farwoman replied, “flush the ship's atmosphere and go to vac-suit breathing,” with no atmosphere inside the ship this would prevent any fires from breaking out and it would also prevent anyone from being sucked out into space, “how are we doing Guns?”</p><p>“We're hitting with penetrators and missiles but those things are so big we're not doing much visible damage.”</p><p>It was true even with the magnification dialled all the way up you could see the penetrators punch through the target's hull while missile warheads vaporised great chunks of the ship's outer hull, but apart from interfering with the enemy's return fire nothing much appeared to be happening. It also seemed that the enemy ships carried about the same number of fighters as an Alliance fleet carrier. Luckily the Alliance Star Furies appeared to be far superior to the enemy fighters. The Alliance fighter pilots were racking up some impressive scores.</p><p>“So, how do we stop them?” Captain Farwoman wanted to know.</p><p>“We fire every nuke we've got into the rift,” Willow called out urgently, “it's generally acknowledged that a big enough bang will destabilise a portal which is basically what we've got here.”</p><p>“Okay,” Farwoman shrugged, “in the absence of any better ideas...Guns, fire every nuke we've got at that rift, set them to explode on the event horizon.”</p><p>“Aye-aye Captain.”</p><p>“Comms inform the task force what we're doing.”</p><p>“Aye-aye, Captain.”</p><div class="center">
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</div><b>Ten Minutes later.</b><p>“Nukes and missiles expended, Captain,” Faith reported; given time the ship's replicators could manufacture more nuclear warheads and short range missiles to carry them, but, that would all take time that they didn't have.</p><p>“Effect?” Farwoman asked Willow.</p><p>“Some...”</p><p>“Care to expand on that Number One?”</p><p>“We haven't destroyed the rift but we are disrupting it,” Willow glanced down at her readouts, “its taking longer for the hostiles to transit through into our space...but we need a bigger bang. Its a pity some of our other ships aren't in position to help out.”</p><p>“They're too heavily engaged to have missiles to spare,” Faith explained.</p><p>“Whatever...” Willow shrugged under her vac-suit.</p><p>“How big?” Farwoman asked with a sinking heart.</p><p>“Very big...” Willow replied before pausing for a moment as she did some calculations in her head, “...I'd say if we flew the Reluctant into the rift and detonated all out fusion reactors that should be a big enough bang to totally disrupt the rift and prevent anyone from reopening it.”</p><p>“Oh shit...” Captain Farwoman felt her heart sink down into her boots at the thought of what she had to do.</p><p>“Sorry to rush you Captain,” Willow added miserably, “but there's something <i>really</i> big coming through.”</p><p>“How big?” Farwoman asked dreading the answer, “And don't just say, 'Big'.”</p><p>“Maybe the size of a small moon?” from the description that Faith had given her, she knew this must be the Death Star.</p><p>“It's times like this I wish I'd listened to my mothers,” Farwoman sighed heavily, “they wanted me to be a gynaecologist...oh well...” the Captain took a deep breath, “Comms inform the fleet about what we're attempting and to get the hellmouth outta here. Number One, all non-essential crew to the escape pods...”</p><p>“Probably won't help, Captain,” Willow explained, “I mean this is going to be the mother of all bangs...maybe the biggest bang since the big one! The escape pods aren't gonna be able to get away fast enough...”</p><p>“I don't think I needed to know that, Number One.”</p><p>“Sorry Captain...”</p><p>“Well this looks like this is 'it',” Captain Farwoman, ever the professional prepared herself for a fiery death, “Engineering set the fusion reactors to overload on my mark...helm set the controls for the heart of that rift...its been fun people...”</p><p>“We who are about to die, Captain,” Willow stood up and went to stand by Faith.</p><p>“Oh bugger...” Faith commented quietly and neatly putting everyone's thoughts into a tidy little package, “I never thought it would end like this,” she said as she turned to face Willow, “I thought we'd get married and grow fat an' lazy on some back water planet with loads of grand kids runnin' around our feet.”</p><p>“An' who was goin' to have all the kids that were goin' to provide us with all these grandchildren?” Willow wanted to know.</p><p>“You of course,” Faith replied with a smile.</p><p>“ME!?”</p><p>“Yeah, well ya don't think I was gonna do it, do ya?”</p><p>“Bitch...”</p><div class="center">
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</div>The Reluctant powered in towards the rift as the rest of the Task Force headed for deep space while still firing missiles and projectiles in an attempt to cover the Reluctant's death ride. Alliance fighter pilots, who had no chance or returning to their carriers, crashed their fighters into enemy fighters and ships in an effort to let the Reluctant get to her target. Even the pirate ship added her fire to the effort. At some point the enemy commander must have realised the danger and shifted the fleet's fire onto the lone ship. But it was to be of no avail, trailing pieces of hull plating and vaporised metal the Reluctant bored in though everything the First's minions could throw at her until she reached the rift's event horizon. Sitting in her command chair as her valiant ship fell apart around her, Captain Farwoman heard Willow's count down reach zero as they entered the rift.<p>“Let there be light...MARK!” Captain Farwoman said to no one as there was no one left alive to hear her except Tara the ship's AI. </p><p>Moments later the Reluctant exploded with the light of a million suns.</p><div class="center">
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</div><b>Aboard the Collective Star Ship, Buffy the Great.</b><p>“What do you mean...nothing?” Admiral Buffy asked.</p><p>“Just that, Admiral,” Captain Buffy replied, “there's a lot of wreckage, I mean there has been a battle here but now its gone...its over.”</p><p>“Well...” for a moment Admiral Buffy was lost for something to say, but not for long, “...this just isn't right!” she complained, “We were supposed to arrive in the nick of time and save the day!”</p><p>“Very disappointing,” agreed the Captain dryly, “shall I turn the fleet around and set a course for Home?”</p><p>“Whatever...” Admiral Buffy sulked, she'd been looking forward to saving the universe from The First and now someone had spoilt everything.</p><p>“Plot a course for Home and secure from battlestations,” Captain Buffy ordered as she watched her admiral head off the bridge.</p><div class="center">
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</div><b>The Eden System.</b><p>Hanging in space in her incorporeal form, the Goddess Gloria Mundi looked on as all her plans for the galaxy unravelled before her very eyes...if she had eyes, which, just at the moment she didn't but that was a minor concern. What was more important was that she'd have to start everything from scratch, which was a pity because she'd rather liked the mortal characters she'd gathered around herself, but at least the First was gone for good; trapped in an isolated reality never to bother anyone ever again.</p><p>“Oh bugger...” Gloria Mundi sighed in a mixture of frustration and...well...more frustration, “...it wasn't supposed to happen like this!”</p><div class="center">
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<a name="section0024"><h2>24. Chapter 24</h2></a>
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  <p>One Year Later.</p>
</div><b>Cissy and Penny.</b><p>Walking briskly across the hotel lounge, Cissy spotted Penny sitting at a window seat surrounded by brightly coloured boxes and bags; Penny had been shopping...again. Stifling the sigh of annoyance and she admitted to herself, a little jealousy. Cissy changed direction slightly and headed for her girlfriend. Yes, Cissy had to admit that although she was doing what she wanted, wearing a uniform most of the time was just a little boring.</p><p>About a year ago, Cissy had gone through with her idea of joining the Royal Flying Corps. At that time the RFC was desperate for pilots to replace the loses caused by the invasion of the Space Vixens. As there were already female pilots in the RFC, in fact one of the RFC's heroes from the recent war was a woman. The letters she'd just retrieved from the hotel's reception both had stamps on them depicting Captain Culpepper-Brown crashing her burning Falcon into a Space Vixen helicopter gunship. Cissy didn't find it too difficult to actually join up. Also the fact that she could already fly was a great help too. During her training, by dint of her slayer abilities, Cissy consistently scored top marks on all her practical examinations. Doing so well in fact that she was posted to the recently reformed Number Five Squadron.</p><p>After qualifying on the new Mk3 Falcon, Cissy found herself defending Avalon against raids launched from Bavaria. The Barvarians thought that a weakened Avalon would be easy prey for her new airforce and they'd be able to bully Avalon into handing back the Bavarian settled parts of the Eastern Isles. Unfortunately for the Bavarians their airforce wasn't up to the job. Its pilots were inexperienced and their aircraft were no match for the modern aircraft used by the RFC and RNAS, even if they were in short supply.</p><p>Very quickly, Cissy had become an ace, in another month she'd become a double ace with twelve kills to her credit. Her skill in air combat was why she was here at the Majestic Hotel on the banks of the River Teems in central Southminster. The RFC had decided that as Cissy was due some leave anyway, she might as well spend some of it doing a little recruiting. The RFC top brass had suddenly realised that women were an untapped source of recruits with the present 'man' power shortage. Cissy being a high profile figure who was regularly seen in the newspapers and heard on the radio was just the woman to persuade other young women to join the RFC.</p><p>“Hello darling!” Penny smiled as she jumped to her feet to plant a passionate kiss on Cissy's lips.</p><p>“Steady on old thing,” Cissy replied after fighting off Penny's enthusiastic greeting, “people might talk.”</p><p>“I don't see why,” Penny replied as she and Cissy sat down, “in that uniform of yours no one can tell if you're a chap or a chapette.”</p><p>It was true, as Cissy looked around no one appeared to be taking any particular notice of them, with a shrug she turned all her attention back to Penny.</p><p>“Been shopping?” Cissy asked as Penny poured tea into two teacups.</p><p>“But of course,” Penny pushed Cissy's cup and saucer towards her before offering her some cakes from the cake stand, the Majestic was the place to go for afternoon tea, “loads of things have just come off ration recently and I thought I'd jolly well take advantage.”</p><p>“Looks like you bought out Horrads,” Cissy smiled as she sipped her tea, it was so much better than army tea.</p><p>“But of course,” Penny sounded like it was the only thing to do, “with nothing to buy my allowance has just been building up in my bank account. Anyway enough of what I've been doing, tell me all about what you've been doing its so much more exciting.”</p><p>“Oh the same old thing thing,” Cissy sighed, “the Square-heads...”</p><p>“Square-heads...!” Penny giggled.</p><p>“Yes, they come over every few days or so and we go up and knock them for six then its home in time for tea and medals,” Cissy shrugged, “The Square-heads don't have much of a chance against us, their aircraft are still mostly made out of wood and fabric, plus they're at least fifty miles-an-hour slower than our Falcons.”</p><p>However, even the Mk3 Falcons had their faults, they were still a little too sluggish in a turn but at least they didn't burst into flames like the Bavarian aircraft when they were shot at. The fuel tanks were self sealing and there was armour plate behind the pilot to stop him or her from being shot. With all the extra weight the new Falcons had had to be fitted with more powerful engines.</p><p>“So, you've not been shot down?” Penny asked, her face becoming more serious than Cissy had seen in a long time, “Because I'd be jolly annoyed if one of those Square-head bounders was to shoot you down and you landed in the sea and drowned...anyway,” Penny brightened at least her lips smiled but her eyes remained full of concern, “what's that you've got?”</p><p>“Letters...” Cissy replied.</p><p>“Who from?”</p><p>“Uncle Teddy and I think the other one's from Ivy.”</p><p>“Ivy?” Penny frowned not remembering the name.</p><p>“You remember, she's the maid that got bitten on the night of that bally awful poetry recital,” Cissy explained; her life before the invasion did seem 'bally frivolous' when she looked back on it now.</p><p>“Oh now I remember...odd girl with thick glasses, what ever happened to her?”</p><p>“Seems like she joined the Army, after Poppy made her so unhappy she wanted to leave,” Cissy opened the letter and read the child-like handwriting through once more, “it appears the army let her drive trucks and cars...”</p><p>“With her eyesight?” Penny gasped.</p><p>“So it would seem,” Cissy nodded, “it says here that she almost volunteered to be a 'Hostess'...”</p><p>“Oh my!” Penny giggled again, “She didn't though?”</p><p>“No, luckily one of her friends warned her what she'd be expected to do, so, she put down for driver training...”</p><p>“Good for her,” Penny nodded her head firmly, “I don't care what they say this Hostess business is just not on, even for working class girls.”</p><p>“Very progressive of you,” Cissy replied with a slight smirk, “but they do all get better pay and conditions and no one forces them to do it, they're all volunteers...” Cissy noted the look on Penny's face and decided to change the subject, “...anyway, she says the pay's better than when she worked for us and she doesn't have to get up so early.”</p><p>“Good for her,” Penny repeated, “now what about your Uncle Teddy?”</p><p>“Oh him...” Cissy put away Ivy's letter and opened the one from her uncle, “...he's decided to stay in the army, he's in command of a company of the Seventy-fifth, and he's going to marry that girl Rose.”</p><p>“Madge Cartwright's maid, Rose?” </p><p>“That's the one,”</p><p>“Bet that jolly well put Madge's nose out of joint, well good luck to them I say,” Penny said.</p><p>“I hope you don't mind me saying this darling,” Cissy began, “but you do seem more grown up these days...”</p><p>“It's the war,” Penny replied.</p><p>“But you weren't in the war,” Cissy pointed out.</p><p>“Yes I was,” Penny said, “I was with you and Mrs B or didn't you notice?”</p><p>“Of course I noticed...” a frown crossed Cissy's face, “...I wonder what ever happen to Buffy?”</p><div class="center">
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</div><b>Arianna Hahn.</b><p>When Arianna had first been captured she'd expected to be gang raped almost immediately. All the stories her mother had told her about how all males were murderous, rapists, animals came back to haunt her. But after she'd been relieved of her weapons no one had laid a finger on her. Then when she'd arrived at the prisoner of war camp in the north of the country, she was sure that the sexual torture, humiliation and forced pregnancies would begin almost any day, but it didn't. In fact most of the locals running the camp were women, only the guards were males and they all looked pretty old. After about four weeks at the camp in which time she'd been questioned by a native woman police sergeant. The local authorities decided that she was just a soldier and didn't really know much about how her technology worked so they sent her to work on a local farm. </p><p>The farm was owned and run by an Ernest Thistlethwaite and his wife, Doris. Once again Arianna found that Ernest had no intention of using her as a sex slave and his wife was very kind to her and found her some civilian clothes to wear. Slowly she fell into the role of farm labourer as the days turned into weeks and the weeks into months. Eventually she realised that she enjoyed working on the farm, she'd even learnt to talk to the men who lived in the nearby village without hiding behind Mrs Thistlethwaite. In fact there was one man who she didn't mind talking to at all. Norman Conquest (Arianna never could work out why people smirked when they said his name) was the village police constable.</p><p>They'd started to talk when Constable Conquest came to the farm every week to check that Arianna was still there and no one was mistreating her. After a few weeks Arianna started to look forward to his visits. It would appear that Norman was starting to feel the same about Arianna and he began to make excuses to drop around to the farm every couple of days or so. However, it took nearly six months for Arianna to let him hold her and kiss her on the lips.</p><p>Deep down, where the memories of her mother's stories still lurked, Arianna half expected Norman to rip her clothes off, throw her to the ground and forcibly impregnate her. But, of course, he didn't, after one very chased kiss at the conclusion of their first date, he backed off and formally asked her to accompany him to the Harvest Festival Dance in the Church hall. Still in shock from not being sexually assaulted, Arianna had said yes.</p><p>That was all four months ago now, and Norman and Arianna had gone way past kissing. In fact Norman had asked to marry her in front of witnesses and she'd said yes, although she still suspected that this was all some kind of trick, but, the less suspicious part of her mind kept asking why was it a trick? She'd almost succumbed to her doubts and fears when she learnt that it was local custom that once a couple had agreed to marry in front of witnesses and a date had been fixed for the marriage that it was alright for them to have sex. Again all Arianna's fears came bubbling to the surface like a six months dead corpse emerging from a swamp. But she fought them down.</p><p>Of course Arianna had had girlfriends, she'd had sex with them, once she'd almost got married to another pirate girl, but it hadn't worked out. Eventually she let Norman take her to bed. Much to her surprise it wasn't anywhere near as awful as she'd expected, in fact it was almost as good as having sex with a girl, she expected that they both probably needed to work on it to get it right. Almost a year to the day after Pirate First Class Arianna Hahn had been captured, she married Constable Norman Conquest and became, Mrs Arianna Hahn-Conquest; and as far as anyone knows the couple are still living happily ever after.</p><div class="center">
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</div><b>Amy and Stella.</b><p>Standing on the headland overlooking Sanctuary Bay, Amy watched as one of the newly built sailing ships was towed into the docks at Queenstown. Of course when she said 'docks' she really meant one rickety peer and a couple of hurriedly built warehouses, but it was a start. Turning her head slightly she looked down on Queenstown itself. The town was a strange mixture of ancient and modern. </p><p>There were houses made out of old cargo containers mixed in with building copied from the natives and right down on the shore was the fusion reactor, the only building in Queenstown made out of concrete. Again, Amy told herself it was all 'a start', that given time the town would expand, but would they have time? Eventually the humans of this world would discover them and when they did the inhabitants of Queenstown would need to fight them off. Okay, there were only three-thousand-five-hundred (more or less) of them, but they did have modern weapons and nine still functioning shuttles.</p><p>Not long after they'd landed Amy had had to order that all the replicators be put to making ammunition and other military necessities. Unfortunately as they had no industrial sized replicators the things they could make had to be able to fit into the size of a microwave oven. But, that first panic had made the ex-pirates think about farming and building the big stuff by hand. There had been times when Amy had wanted to grab Stella and the kids and try their luck in the Royal Yacht which was FTL capable, but Amy had stuck it out. All things considered life here was preferable to death in the cold vacuum of space.</p><p>Hearing footsteps behind her, Amy turned to see her bodyguards standing at a respectful distance, but more importantly she saw Stella come and walk over to stand beside her.</p><p>“Looks like you got your 'Pirate Nation' after all,” Stella said as she took hold of Amy's hand. </p><p>“Hardly 'Pirates' any more and it'll be some time before we're a nation,” Amy replied doubtfully, “I'm not cut out for this Stella,” she admitted, “I'm just a witch...”</p><p>“And some have greatness thrust upon them I think someone once said,” Stella squeezed her wife's hand.</p><p>“You think I'm great?” Amy asked.</p><p>“Of course,” Stella smiled, “but then I'm biased.”</p><div class="center">
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</div><b>Buffy.</b><p>The train rattled and swayed alarmingly as it passed over the new section of tracks. The rail line from Southminster to Waking had been hit by one of the Space Vixen's bombs. The repairs were temporary as there was much more important damage to repair. Looking out of the window at the hastily filled in crater, Buffy wondered what she should do now. The thought came to her that other than making hundreds of gallons of tea and handing out mountains of sandwiches and sticky buns she'd done little to defeat the Space Vixens. The fact was that even though they'd killed her husband, Buffy didn't feel much in the way of animosity towards them. The captured Space Vixens she'd seen all looked like frightened young women who were more to be pitied than scorned.</p><p>Buffy tried to tell herself that a real battlefield was no place for a slayer. On a battle field you could be killed by a stray shell or bullet just as easily as someone who didn't possess 'super powers'. If things had gone a little differently, if the Space Vixens had won then she might have found a place for herself resisting the enemy. But that had not happened, perhaps now she could help rebuild Avalon, perhaps make it a better place for the working classes and women in particular. It would help take her mind off the loss of her husband.</p><p>It had been some weeks since Buffy had last visited the house near Waking, these days she mostly stayed at the flat in Southminster. But today she was going to the house to inspect the repair work done by a local builder. There had been some damage to the house from the fighting last year, it was mostly cosmetic stuff, broken windows and doors plus a few bullet holes. The worst of the damage had been done by the previous winter blowing in through open doors and smashed windows.</p><p>The builder had done a good job, but Buffy had no intention of moving back into the house. Without Harry it was simply too big, they'd always meant to start a family but now that wouldn't happen so there was no need for all the extra room. Plus the house brought back far too many memories for Buffy to live there any more, so she'd sell it and live permanently in Southminster.</p><p>Going into the kitchen, Buffy put on the kettle to make some tea, having bought the makings from the local shop on her way to the house from the station. As she waited for the kettle to boil she once again found herself thinking about the screw-up the army had made about Harry's remains. After the wire message that informed her of Harry's death the army had fallen strangely silent about where his body was going to be buried. It was only after she'd made a loud and public fuss in Harry's old newspaper that the army admitted to Buffy that they'd lost track of Harry's remains. True there'd been a lot of casualties but to lose someone’s nearest and dearest was too much for Buffy and she went after those responsible. Luckily for them she only attacked them in print.</p><p>Eventually the army showed her a grave in one of the military cemeteries near Waking that they assured her belonged to her husband. Buffy wasn't so sure, but having exhausted all her leads she eventually accepted that Harry was probably buried there and she could at least visit and leave flowers by his grave stone.</p><p>The kettle boiled and as she poured the water into her teapot someone knocked on the front door.</p><p>“Now who's that?” Buffy asked herself crossly, she wasn't in the mood for visitors or tradesmen. </p><p>For a moment she almost ignored the knock, but then she told herself she better go see who it was. Putting down the kettle and leaving the tea to brew she marched briskly through the house to the front door. Opening the door she found a man with a beard dressed in an old army greatcoat standing on the door step. Looking him up and down she thought there was something familiar about him.</p><p>“Can I help you?” Buffy asked the stranger.</p><p>“Buffy?” the man spoke and Buffy knew instantly who he was.</p><p>“HARRY!” she cried as she threw herself into his arms.</p><div class="center">
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<a name="section0025"><h2>25. Chapter 25</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
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  <b>Sunnydale, 2003.</b>
</p><p>Creeping downstairs and into the hall, Kennedy paused for a moment before walking over to the front door. Listening with ears that seemed to be full of cotton wool, she could only just hear the sounds of all the sleeping Potentials, she roundly cursed the loss of her slayer powers and senses. She also roundly cursed the fact that no one had set a guard, after so many years of being a soldier this sort of thing really annoyed her.</p><p>After more than forty years of being a slayer it felt like she was more than half deaf and blind. Sighing quietly she reached out and turned the door handle, pulling open the door she froze as the hinges squeaked. Standing perfectly still she strained her ears for any sound that might mean someone had noticed her movements, it would ruin her plan if Buffy or Mr Giles discovered her about to creep out into the night.</p><p>Hearing nothing untoward she stepped out into the darkness and closed the door carefully behind her. Standing on the porch she watched the night for dangers through eyes that were blinded by the dark. Once again the thought hit her that for the last forty years or so, the most frightening thing out in the night was her and her sister slayers. For the time being she'd have to live with being only slightly better than a normal, human, teenage girl. But that would all change when Willow put everything back as it should be. </p><p>Stepping off the porch, Kennedy walked briskly down the garden path. Reaching the street she turned to her right and headed on down Revello Drive. After passing several deserted houses she crossed the road to find herself standing outside 1645 Revello Drive. The house looked silent and deserted like most of the other houses in the street, however Kennedy knew better. Trotting across the well kept lawn, she made her way around to the rear of the house. Gaining entry via the kitchen door, she made her way through the house and up the stairs. Turning left she walked over to the door to the master bedroom, she opened the door and went in.</p><p>“General on deck!” Dawn called, her voice squeaking a little, as Kennedy walked into the room.</p><p>Willow and Faith, who had been sitting in two chairs in the candle light near the window, sprang to their feet and stood to attention just as Dawn was doing.</p><p>“Relax ladies,” Kennedy smiled, “you too Miz Summers.”</p><p>The three women relaxed and sat down again as Kennedy made her way over to a spare chair and made herself comfortable.</p><p>“This is like, so weird being in my younger body,” Kennedy said as she examined her arms and hands, “and not having my slayer powers is a total pain!”</p><p>“Yeah,” Faith agreed, “like I've still got mine but I'm not as strong and sharp as I was...but, on the plus side I'd forgotten how cute I looked!”</p><p>“Sure,” Willow added, “I feel like totally insecure, but I still seem to have all my powers.”</p><p>“What about you Sergeant-Major?” Kennedy asked Dawn, the tough, veteran, Marine Warrant Officer.</p><p>“I feel like what I look like, General,” Dawn sighed sadly, “a dorky sixteen year old who no one takes seriously...I hate it.”</p><p>“Okay,” Kennedy smiled at the look of utter despair on Dawn's face; whatever had happened must be worse for Dawn she thought as she turned her gaze back to Willow, “Okay, Commander, what the hell happened?”</p><p>“I've got two theories,” Willow began as she sat up straighter in her seat, “theory one...Detonating the Reluctant's fusion reactors so close to the rift that The First and his guys were coming through. Well, I think it triggered a temporal surge in the sub-space continuum which recreated the same type of time warp that took us into the future in the first place...or...”</p><p>“Or?” Kennedy, Faith and Dawn chorused</p><p>“...or...” Willow repeated, “...some mega-powerful-super-being is messin' with us...”</p><p>“Gets my vote,” Faith said after a short pause.</p><p>“Uh-huh,” Dawn nodded, “mega-being...”</p><p>“Totally,” Kennedy agreed, “and it explains why we're back in our old bodies...so what are we going to do about it. I for one want my old life back.”</p><p>“Yeah,” Dawn agreed, “the Alliance wasn't perfect but its better than the here and now...plus I hate being a teenager again.”</p><p>“Hey, Sergeant-Major,” Faith tried to cheer Dawn up and failed, “at least ya don't have to go through puberty again.”</p><p>“I don't think we can...” Willow announced soberly. </p><p>“What? Go through puberty again?” Faith interrupted.</p><p>“No,” Willow sighed heavily, “I mean, I don't think we can get our old lives back.”</p><p>“Why not?” General Kennedy wanted to know.</p><p>“Well, for a start we've already changed the time line,” Willow pointed out.</p><p>“Yeah,” Faith grinned, “Buffy not getting thrown outta her own house for one?”</p><p>“Totally,” Dawn agreed, “she never liked anyone saying 'no' to her plans, but when we supported her against the others she was totally confused, its like she expected someone to disagree with her, like, she wanted to be thrown out.”</p><p>“And what happened to Xander?” Faith wanted to know.</p><p>“Maybe because he's living 'happily ever after' in the SGC reality he didn't get called back,” Dawn suggested, “or maybe he was just too far away from the explosion to be affected.”</p><p>“Being in a different reality is as good a reason as any,” Willow agreed, “as far as anyone here is concerned he just vanished, they think he either ran off or The First got him.”</p><p>“Xander would never run away from a fight,” Dawn muttered, she'd always liked Xander and she'd had sex with him while they were on the alternate Earth.</p><p>“I'll start a rumour that he got himself killed fightin' the Bringers,” Faith said.</p><p>“Okay, so we're changing the timeline,” Kennedy said trying to get the conversation back on track.</p><p>“Yeah and its only gonna get worse the longer we stay here,” Willow pointed out, “Also, depending on which theory of time travel you believe in, the future we experienced might not exist. Even if I could magic us all back to our future there's no guarantee that our future will be there or perhaps its changed completely.” Willow sighed sadly, “I have a suggestion...”</p><p>“Which is?” Kennedy asked a little despondently. </p><p>“We make the Alliance happen in the here and now!” everyone looked at Willow as if she was a sandwich short of a picnic, “Look,” she started to explain, “its going to take years I know, we'll probably never see it happen, but we know stuff, like we know where all the deposits of Element 451 are...”</p><p>“All off world,” Faith pointed out. </p><p>“Mars ain't that far away,” Willow pointed out, “once we have the 451 we can build FTL drives and fusion reactors and all that good stuff.” The room went quiet for a moment as everyone looked at Kennedy, she was the general, the decision was ultimately up to her, “Well guys what do you think?”</p><p>“Unless anyone has a better idea,” Kennedy paused waiting for someone to come up with a better plan, when no one did she said, “Okay, lets start building the new Terran Alliance!”</p><p>“Hoo-rah!” cheered Dawn as she imagined herself as the Chief Warrant Officer of the newly formed Terran Alliance Marine Corps.</p><p>“So first things first,” Kennedy settled back in her chair, “how do we destroy The First?”</p><p>“Easy,” Willow said firmly.</p><p>“Easy?” Faith didn't look so sure, “Last time he whipped our asses, you remember that, right?”</p><p>“Sure do,” Willow tried for an infectious grin but couldn't quite pull it off, “but this time we know what's gonna happen, right?”</p><p>“Okay,” Faith crossed her arms under her breasts and gave Willow a challenging look, “how's knowing we're gonna get our asses whipped gonna help?”</p><p>“I thought you were a Tactical Officer,” Willow replied with a frown.</p><p>“I am, I just wanna be sure ya thought this through,” Faith replied.</p><p>“Okay, here's the basic plan,” Willow began, “tomorrow, Faith and I go to that wine cellar place and retrieve the Slayer Scythe.”</p><p>“Without being killed by Caleb,” Faith pointed out the flaw in Willow's plan.</p><p>“From what Buffy told me about last time,” Willow told a sceptical Faith, “all you have to do is make sure he doesn't actually hit you, you can do that, right? An' look I'll be there with magical back-up.”</p><p>“Suppose,” Faith agreed unenthusiastically. </p><p>“Once we've got the scythe we bring it back here and I do the empowering spell,” this time Willow's infectious grin was zapped by mental antiseptic, everyone was frowning at her, “Oh come on guys...”</p><p>“Don't you have to be in the Principal's office or something?” Dawn wanted to know.</p><p>“Yeah,” agreed Kennedy, “I remember guarding you when you did the spell last time.”</p><p>“But I know better now,” Willow pointed out, “any quiet space will do and POW! We've got a bunch of slayers!”</p><p>“Talking of slayers,” Kennedy turned to look at Dawn, “do we have any allies?”</p><p>“Okay,” Dawn shifted in her seat, “I managed to talk to all the potentials...while Buffy wasn't around.”</p><p>“That musta been an interesting discussion,” quipped Faith, “'do any of ya remember being in the far future?'”</p><p>“I sang the Alliance anthem quietly,” Dawn explained, “and watched people's reaction.”</p><p>“An' no one told ya to shut up?” Faith asked; Dawn wasn't known for her singing voice.</p><p>“And...?” Kennedy asked ignoring Faith's comment.</p><p>“Twelve potentials have memories of being in the Alliance Military at the Battle of the Rift,” Dawn explained, “another seven remember being pirates aboard that big mothership that joined us in the fight. Most everyone else has memories of living in the future and of being on some of the auxiliary ships near the battle zone.”</p><p>“Will the pirates and the non-military girls follow our lead?” Kennedy wanted to know.</p><p>“Yes, ma'am,” Dawn nodded, “they've got nowhere else to go and they're just as scared and confused as we are, plus they wanna be slayers again.”</p><p>“Seems quite a lot,” Willow pointed out, “mega co-incidence...?”</p><p>“Mega-being,” Dawn reminded her.</p><p>“Gotcha,” Willow nodded, “I just wish I knew which mega being's doin' this.”</p><p>“There's more than one?” Faith asked.</p><p>“Probably dozens,” Willow replied with a heavy sigh, “or maybe even millions!”.</p><p>“Okay people,” Kennedy said using her 'General's voice' “lets stick with the program and argue about mega-beings later...so, we've got a load of potential slayers who remember being in our future,” Kennedy said as she pondered her options. “Okay, Dawn tomorrow morning you take some of the girls and search the town for kit...we want shotguns and plenty of ammo, incendiaries if you can find them as well as buckshot. The Bringers are basically human so we can shoot them, and the incendiaries should deal with the ubervamps, I don't want any of our people going hand-to-hand if the enemy can be safely shot.”</p><p>“On it, Ma'am,” Dawn nodded, “I'll also see what I can do about finding the girls some uniforms...”</p><p>“Uniforms?” Willow queried.</p><p>“It'll helps with unit cohesion,” Dawn pointed out.</p><p>“Buffy won't like it,” Willow pointed out.</p><p>“When has Buffy ever liked anything?” Dawn said quietly, “I know she's my sister and its great to see her alive again, but sometimes...”</p><p>“Screw Buffy!” Kennedy snapped, “I'm the fecking general and I don't want any of my girls killed if it can be helped,” she turned back to Dawn, “Do you remember how to drive?” Dawn nodded, “Okay, get food, medical supplies from the hospital and camping cookers from a wilderness store, I'm amazed no one thought to do any of this before with all the shops standing open twenty-four-seven. Once we've got everything we fort up here, okay?”</p><p>“What about Buffy?” Willow wanted to know.</p><p>“We'll deal with her later,” Kennedy said darkly, “Now, more importantly, how do we deal with the First?”</p><p>“Nuke 'em from orbit,” Faith grinned, “its the only way to be sure...”</p><p>“Okay,” Kennedy pondered the suggestion for a moment, “so where do we get a nuke?”</p><p>“There's the naval bases in San Diego and San Francisco they're bound to have some and we'll only need a little one,” Faith pointed out.</p><p>“So the US Navy is just going to let us walk in and take one of their nukes?” Willow asked sceptically.</p><p>“I was thinking that you zapped y'self in, grabbed one an' zapped y'self out,” Faith outlined the plan, “I mean you are the mega-which.”</p><p>“But aren't nukes really big in the here an' now?” Willow asked uncertainly, “I mean they can't be like our little bitty nukes in the future.”</p><p>Dawn mouthed 'little bitty' at Kennedy and rolled her eyes.</p><p>“Not that different,” Faith explained, “I mean its not like they're the same size as Fat Woman...”</p><p>“Fat Woman?” Willow frowned.</p><p>“One of the first nukes used to seal a Hellmouth,” Faith told her.</p><p>“Hey people,” Dawn called out, “I just had a thought...”</p><p>“Which is?” Kennedy asked.</p><p>“I mean, Buffy doesn't like guns, right?” Dawn pointed out as she tried not to smirk too hard.</p><p>“So?” Willow asked.</p><p>“I mean,” Dawn grinned, “if she doesn't like guns I really wanna see her face when we walk in the house with a nuke!”</p><p>“All the more reason to get one,” Kennedy smiled evilly, “and another point...Buffy...”</p><p>“What about her?” Dawn asked.</p><p>“Does she remember being in the future?” Kennedy wanted to know.</p><p>“I asked her some pretty pointed questions,” Dawn admitted, “an' I gotta say no...”</p><p>“I don't think Buffy got sent into the future like us,” Willow said, “the only future Buffy's I remember were various robot Buffy's. Somehow I don't think the real Buffy made it...”</p><p>“Pity,” Kennedy sighed, “not having a real 'future Buffy' is gonna make our job harder...”</p><div class="center">
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</div><b>The following morning.</b><p>“Its quiet, where is everybody?” Buffy asked Giles as she walked into the dinning room from the kitchen.</p><p>“I was just sitting here enjoying the peace,” Giles looked up as he replied, he was reading a large leather bound tome as he drank from a huge mug of tea.</p><p>“Yeah its nice an' all,” Buffy agreed as she sat down, “but I don't like not knowing where people are.”</p><p>“Well,” Giles put down his tea and closed his book, “Dawn and that girl Kennedy took about half the potentials and said something about going shopping...”</p><p>“I hope they're not out looting the mall or something for shoes,” Buffy muttered darkly.</p><p>“I think they're looking for food and other supplies,” Giles informed her.</p><p>“That's good,” Buffy brightened a little, “but I should have thought of that...maybe I'm not cut out to be a leader after all...”</p><p>“You can't think of everything,” Giles reached out and placed a supportive hand on her arm, “and don't feel so bad about it, because I didn't think of it either.”</p><p>“But I should have,” Buffy replied firmly.</p><p>“The art of good leadership is knowing how to delegate,” Giles explained.</p><p>“It is?” Buffy asked hopelessly, “See I didn't even know that.”</p><p>“Never mind,” Giles sighed, it was pointless trying to 'jolly' Buffy along when she was in one of her dark moods; life, Giles told himself, would be much easier if slayers were older.</p><p>“Is Willow about?” Buffy wanted to know, “I need to talk to her about...”</p><p>“No, she and Faith left early this morning before Dawn and Kennedy,” Giles cut Buffy off mid-sentence.</p><p>“Did they say where they were going?”</p><p>“Said they had to find something,” Giles replied, “and they'd be back later.”</p><p>“Have you noticed how close Faith and Willow have become in the last couple of days?”</p><p>“Yes,” Giles nodded, “I thought that Willow was getting close to that Kennedy girl but now it seems Dawn and Kennedy have formed a relationship.”</p><p>“What sort of relationship?” Buffy asked suspiciously, “You don't think...?”</p><p>“I don't think anything,” Giles pointed out, “and neither should you, Dawn's quite old enough to chose her own friends and what sort of friendship she has.”</p><p>“But...”</p><p>“But nothing, and another thing,” Giles sighed again, “we could all be dead by this time tomorrow so let Dawn have a little happiness while she can.”</p><p>“That's amazingly open-minded of you Giles,” Buffy grinned.</p><p>“Yes well I'm getting to that age when one can say outrageous things without too much backlash.”</p><p>“Yeah you are getting on a little,” Buffy smirked, “whatever...have you noticed how 'in charge' Dawn's been these last couple of days?”</p><p>“Now you mention it, yes,” Giles nodded sagely, “in fact I've noticed that both Faith and Willow have become more confident and...to put it bluntly, more grown up.”</p><p>“You don't think...?”</p><p>“You're not thinking that they've come under the influence of The First, are you?”</p><div class="center">
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</div>Highlight and right click to follow the link...<p>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfx8Nc6VKnI</p><p>Sorry about the quality of this vid, but it was originally made on VHS by someone I knew long ago.</p>
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<a name="section0026"><h2>26. Chapter 26</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <b>Sunnydale.</b>
</p><p>Having a very vivid memory of dying, Helga didn't want it to happen again; she'd been grabbed by two ubervamps and literally torn apart. It had been mind-numbingly horrifying and excruciatingly painful experience, at least, it had been for a while. When she'd woken up she'd at first thought that she was still in the caverns under Sunnydale, but she wasn't, she was in her own very special version of hell.</p><p>It didn't take her long to realise she was a slave working in a mine digging out some sort of mineral using only hand tools, she also discovered that exposure to this mineral killed you after about a year or so. One of her sister slaves taught her to speak English as it was spoken in the future (at this point Helga didn't know she was in the future, that would come later) and told her a completely unbelievable story about where and when she was.</p><p>As if digging up something that would kill you wasn't bad enough, the guards, all females with protective suits, had their own very special way of having the slaves entertain them. One day the guards grabbed Helga and threw her into a small pit-like arena where a violently insane man had tried to rape and kill her. While this was going on the guards laid bets on how long it would take the man to kill Helga. It was at this point that Willow's empowerment spell finally kicked in, Helga killed the man and almost escaped from her prison. However she was hit by a powerful tranquillizer dart and when she woke up again she found herself secured by unbreakable chains and expected to work twice as hard on half the rations. Luckily for Helga some pirates raided the mine, freed the slaves and killed all the guards a couple of weeks later.</p><p>This had all happened more than twelve subjective years ago now. Having risen in the ranks of the pirate sisterhood, Helga was now a 'Chief' (equivalent to an Alliance Warrant Officer) by the time of what was being called 'The Battle of the Rift'. Back 'home' she'd had a wife and three beautiful daughters who all wanted to grow up and be pirates like their moms. But that wasn't going to happen, she believed Willow when she'd explained it to everyone, there was no way back to the future. Her wife, Sarika and the girls would have to live out their lives on the Third Planet without her.</p><p>Being the senior pirate the other pirate girls looked to her to make the decision as to whether they should join the Alliance group in their plan to destroy the First and to start to rebuild the Alliance in the here and now. After thinking on General Kennedy's suggestion, Helga reluctantly advised her pirate-sisters to join with the Alliance, she'd realised that what General Kennedy (it was weird to think of an eighteen year old girl as a General with over forty years of combat experience...but then everything was weird just now) was their best bet to destroy the First and get back something of what they'd all lost.</p><p>The first thing that happened, was that all the pirates were inducted into the Alliance military, not only were they given equivalent Alliance ranks to their old pirate ranks, but, they were officially pardoned of any 'wrong' doing they might have committed in their pirate lives; a clean slate in fact. The next thing that happened was that Willow performed her empowerment spell and everyone who should be a slayer was a slayer again.</p><p>After resting for twenty-four hours Commander Rosenberg led an Away Team in a raid on the US Navy docks in San Francisco. Helga was the leader of the slayer strike team sent along by General Kennedy to protect Willow if anything went wrong. Commander Rosenberg had zapped everyone aboard the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise. They'd found a suitable bomb and Willow had zapped them all out again, they were back in Sunnydale in time for supper and to watch Buffy hit the roof when she discovered it was the same roof under which there was now a tactical nuclear weapon. It had been very funny to watch Buffy get more and more angry only to be shut down by Commander Rosenberg and Lieutenant (SF) Lehane who basically told her to 'shut up and grow up'.</p><p>Dawn had been right, Buffy didn't take the news that the plan was to nuke Sunnydale very well, in fact looking back on things Helga now admitted that everyone laughing at Buffy's concerns hadn't helped. It was more or less at this point that General Kennedy had 'lost' it, telling Buffy that she was a complete 'cluster fuck' as a leader, she sent all the non-slayers (except Dawn) away. The ex-demon Anya was off like a shot dragging Andrew behind her, she sort of treated him as a pet and appeared to have grown attached to him.</p><p>Giles and Principal Wood tried to back Buffy but were thrown out of the house by a couple of slayers before being told to 'steal' a car and head for LA where everyone would meet up after the First was defeated. This only left Buffy; many years later Helga still smiled at the roasting the General had given Buffy, she could understand why people would follow General Kennedy to hell and back. Being told that she could leave, the General had then told Buffy that she could stay and help only if she agreed to follow her orders to the letter. Reluctantly Buffy agreed.</p><div class="center">
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</div><b>The Day.</b><p>Awaking with a start Helga looked up at the ceiling above her sleeping bag and realised that today was in fact <i>The Day.</i> Unzipping the zipper and sitting up she was just in time to see Sergeant Major Summers stick her head around the opened door.</p><p>“Rise an' shine, Chief,” Dawn called softy.</p><p>“An' good mornin' to you Sergeant-Major,” Helga replied.</p><p>“Yeah good morning,” Dawn said with a shrug, “get your girls up, breakfast in thirty.”</p><p>“Roger that, Chief,” Helga said as she got out of her sleeping bag, she needed to pee so she stepped carefully over the sleeping forms of the other ex-pirates and headed for the bathroom.</p><p>Having completed her visit and splashed some cold water on her face, Helga felt a little more ready to face the day and her own possible death. Going back into what had been Buffy's old bedroom she closed the door behind her.</p><p>“Okay, slugs time to get up,” she said in a loud voice as she moved around the room encouraging people to wake-up and get up, “Breakfast in thirty,” she informed the sleepy eyed ex-pirates, “an' I wanna see ya properly dressed before y'all go down stairs, okay? I don't want no Ally bitches saying we're just slovenly, pirate sluts, okay?”</p><p>“Okay Chief...” came the drowsy reply from the pirates as the crawled from their sleeping bags and got to their feet. Even with most of the furniture removed the room was very crowded with seven young women and all their gear and weapons, but Helga did her best to get the girls moving and clearing up everything so people could move around without tripping over things. Covering her own fear at what was to happen today, Helga kept herself busy by checking on her charges and preparing her own gear for battle. </p><p>Now dressed in her blue, blue, grey and black disruptive camouflage uniform, Helga checked over the assault shotgun she'd 'acquired' from the evidence room at the Sunnydale PD's headquarters. It was the same place they'd found almost enough body armour for all the military and pirate slayers. Looking up from where she'd been thumbing shells in the big drum magazine she saw that all her girls were dressed and ready to go.</p><p>“You'll do,” Helga admitted grudgingly, “now, get down to breakfast an' don't start any fights, okay?”</p><p>Staying in the room as her girls headed down stairs, Helga held her hand up to see it tremble like a leaf in a breeze. The prospect of combat always hit her like this; she might be a veteran of a thousand boarding actions and raids, but, she was scarred silly every time. Taking in a deep breath and letting it out slowly she pulled herself together and headed on down stairs, all the while hoping that having something to eat might stop her from wanting to throw up.</p><div class="center">
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</div>“Okay ladies!” Helga called as she led her team along the deserted corridors of the newly rebuilt Sunnydale High, “Listen up...”<p>Her team consisted of the six other pirate girls and three civilian slayer volunteers, they were all armed with either a pump action or semi-auto twelve gauge shotguns. Most of the girls also carried a pistol looted from Sunnydale PD and some sort of bladed weapon for when things got really nasty.</p><p>“Okay,” Helga brought her team to a halt were two corridors crossed, she eyed the graffiti sprayed on the walls and wondered where the empty forty-five gallon oil drums had come from, “this is the plan. Miz Lehane will lead the assault team into the caverns under the school. They place the bomb an' set the fuse then they high tail it outta here, okay?”</p><p>“Okay!” everyone replied with a quiet giggle.</p><p>“Our job is to cover their retreat,” Helga continued, “then we all jump on the bus (there was a yellow school bus waiting outside) an' drive like hell for minimum safe distance, okay?”</p><p>“Okay,” the team replied soberly, no one joked about nukes.</p><p>“With luck, the ubervamps camped out under the school won't notice what's goin' on until its too late,” Helga explained, “but we all know that no plan survives contact with the enemy, so...” she looked at the faces of each of her girls and saw only quiet determination to get it right this time and destroy The First, “...so its day light, so I'm thinking we won't see too many vamps, but keep those incendiaries handy, okay? If we have to fight anything it'll be Bringers an' that'll be like fightin' stupid demons who ain't got guns...kick their ass!”</p><p>“AAAAR!” the pirates called out the ancient pirate warcry and punched the air before falling silent and waiting for orders.</p><p>There were four corridor intersections between the door to the basement and the door to the courtyard where General Kennedy and her staff waited with the bus. Leaving two girls at each intersection, Helga watched as her girls pulled desks, filling cabinets, chairs and lockers out of offices and classrooms to build barricades. </p><p>“Okay,” Helga turned to Hannah, the biggest and scariest of the pirate slayers, “you an' me are the reserve, okay?”</p><p>“Okay, Chief,” Hannah growled, like a lot of slayers present today, she had memories of dying during the fight under the school, “this time we slaughter the bastards!”</p><div class="center">
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</div>Trotting along the corridor at the head of the Assault Team, Faith nodded to herself as she saw how the rearguard had barricaded off the corridors. Before she knew it she was at the door to the cellar, one of her team opened the door while another covered her. When nothing jumped out and attacked them, Faith led the way downstairs into the semi-lit corridors under the school. Jogging along until she found the door she wanted, Faith again stood back to let the two slayers with infantry training open the door.<p>Once again nothing attacked them; for a moment Faith wondered if The First was really that incompetent as to not leave guards or maybe he was leading her into a trap. Either way it didn't matter, if the worst came to the worst she could detonate the nuke now and blow everyone to kingdom come. Walking down a few concrete steps, Faith and her party found themselves standing in a circle around the seal that guarded the entrance to The First's lair. Pulling the bag of whole blood from out of the pocket on her thigh, Faith held it up and watched as her team copied her actions, the blood had been looted from Sunnydale General. Drawing the knife from her belt, she slit open the bag and poured the contents onto the seal. Watching as the rest of her team followed suit, Faith waited for the seal to open, she didn't have to wait for long. The seal opened to reveal a dark spiral staircase that seemed to lead into the very depths of hell; Faith then gave the order to move out.</p><p>“Follow me,” Faith called quietly as she stepped down into the jaws of hell.</p><div class="center">
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</div>“I feel like a freakin' fraud, Sergeant-Major,” Kennedy said as she waited outside the school with the bus and what she was calling the 'Tactical Reserve'.<p>“You're the General, Ma'am,” Dawn replied as she shifted the shotgun in her arms.</p><p>“I'm a fecking General in an eighteen year olds body,” Kennedy pointed out, “I should be in there doing some good not standing around her like a fifth wheel!”</p><p>“Crap!” Willow called out softly, “The First's woken up, he knows we're here!”</p><div class="center">
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</div>Looking at her watch, Helga saw that it was nearly ten minutes since Miz Lehane and the assault team had gone down into the basement. With any luck the assault group should reappear soon and they could get the feck outta here.<p>“Post number two,” came a voice from further up the corridor, “movement to my front!”</p><p>“Where away?” Helga asked after trotting over to where two of her girls hid behind their barricade.</p><p>“Just passed that water fountain,” replied Pirate Jenny as she gestured with her auto-shotgun.</p><p>“Can't see any...!” Helga began but was interrupted as about a dozen Bringers sprang out of cover and charged the four slayers at the barricade, “KILL THE BASTARDS, NOW!”</p><p>No sooner were the words out of Helga's mouth than a hail of buckshot swept the Bringers away to lie in distorted, bloody heaps on the corridor floor. A moment later the corridor was full of the sound of firing as Bringers appeared from out of offices and classrooms to rush towards the pirates defending the escape route.</p><p>“OPEN FIRE!” Helga yelled, “ALL WEAPONS!”</p><div class="center">
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</div>Standing over the nuke, Faith tried to decide how long she should set the timer for; they'd discussed this earlier but hadn't come to any real decision. Set it for too long and there was a chance the First might notice, set it too short and they'd all be radio-active dust before they could get to minimum safe distance.<p>“Feck-it!” Faith muttered as she twisted the timer to thirty minutes; the timer was something she and Willow had made out of a kitchen timer after they'd disarmed the bomb's safety systems.</p><p>“HOSTILES TO THE FRONT!” one of the infantry slayers cried out as below her the horde of ubervamps suddenly realised that they were not alone. </p><p>“Form two ranks!” Faith ordered as she indicated where she wanted the two ranks formed.</p><p>Below her the ubervamps swarmed up the cliff-like slope towards where the slayers stood at bay.</p><p>“Present!” Faith ordered as shotguns were brought up to shoulders all along the line; Faith could sense the ubervamps get closer and closer, any moment now they would be breasting the top of the cliff.</p><p>“VOLLEY BY RANKS!” Faith saw the first of the monsters present themselves for the slaughter, “FRONT RANK...FIRE!”</p><p>The guns thundered out their challenge as the first rank of vampires was swept away by a hurricane of incendiary pellets.</p><div class="center">
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</div>Highlight and right click to follow the link...<p>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RP4FjODPDFA</p>
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<a name="section0027"><h2>27. Chapter 27</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <b>Sunnydale High.</b>
</p><p>“Front rank...FIRE!” Faith ordered as another swarm of vamps burst into short lived flame, “RETIRE!”</p><p>The front rank of slayers turned and passed through the gaps left by the second rank, these girls now became the first rank and brought their weapons up and ready to continue the execution of The First's forces. In front of the slayer's guns the air was full of vamp ash as it slowly settled like grey snow on the floor of the rocky outcrop. Every now and then a burning vamp would stumble into one of its fellows causing it to catch fire. This often caused a chain reaction that swept back through the vampire horde. Unfortunately this chain reaction never went critical and didn't sweep through the vampire crowded cavern to destroy all The First's forces.</p><p>Looking over her shoulder, Faith now saw that the frontage available was too constricted for her to continue her orderly withdrawal. In front of her she could see the nuke lying on the ground being totally ignored by the advancing vampires who, even if they knew what it was, didn't see it as a danger and completely ignored it. The timer had been set for thirty minutes and five of those precious minutes must have passed by now, it was time to leave.</p><p>“FRONT RANK, RAPID INDEPENDENT...<b>FIRE!</b>” Faith cried out as the front rank slayers emptied their shotguns into the still advancing vamps, once the slayers had fired off the shells in their magazines, Faith ordered them back and up the stairs to the basement.</p><p>Once the front rank was clear, Faith stood with the second rank and waited for the girls on the stairs to clear themselves out of the way. For too many nerve racking seconds that Faith would never forget if she lived to be a hundred, she waited for the stairs to clear. With a sigh of relief she saw the last slayer clear the top step.</p><p>“SECOND RANK...RAPID INDEPENDENT...<b>FIRE!</b>” once again the guns spoke and more vampires came to a dusty end, “Everybody out!” Faith called as the guns fell silent. </p><p>For a moment at least there were no 'living' vampires on the outcrop of rock that the slayers had made their own. Setting her back against the cave wall next to where the stairs disappeared up into the basement, Faith levelled her shotgun and waited for the ubervamps to renew their assault, next to her the last of the slayers started up the stairs just as the first vampire looked over the edge of the outcrop. Raising her shotgun, Faith shot the creature, no sooner had it burst into flame than a second creature of the night appeared only to be shot and set on fire, screaming in rage and pain the vampire fell on top of the creature behind it and started its on little fiery holocaust which wiped out a good twenty or more vampires.</p><p>Backing up slowly, Faith started up the stairs, but even as she did so more vampires appeared over the lip of the outcrop. There were too many for her to stop, she'd started out with seven shells in her weapon, she'd already fired two. By the time she'd fired off the last five shells the vamps would be on her and there'd be no time to reload.</p><div class="center">
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</div>Up in the main part of the school firing had become general as the Bringers exerted steady pressure on Helga's defences, she'd never realised there were that many Bringers. But, no mater how fanatically they charged they never got to more than a few yards of the barricades. Once again reality trumped drama, Helga smiled to herself, as long as she and her girls kept up a good, steady, base of fire the Bringers had no chance of bringing their swords and knives into play. What was worrying her was the fact that the slayers who'd gone down into the caverns had not reappeared. Taking the opportunity of a lull in the action, she walked over to the door to the basement as she changed her assault shotgun's magazine. Opening the door, she was just in time to be almost knocked off her feet as the first slayer appeared from out of the smoky hell below.<p>“OUT! OUT!” Helga yelled as she grabbed slayers and heaved them out into the corridor, “RUN!” she shouted as she pointed down the corridor to where sunlight and safety beckoned, “MOVE IT!”</p><div class="center">
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</div>Outside around the bus, slayers fought to keep the Bringers at bay. Although the slayers outside had little military experience, they were still slayers and the Bringers had to cover more open ground to get to them.<p>“What the feck's going on!?” demanded Kennedy of no one in particular, “Sergeant-Major Summers!”</p><p>“Ma'am!” Dawn was at Kennedy's side in an instant.</p><p>“Go in there and find out what the hold up is,” Kennedy ordered more like a company commander than a general.</p><p>“MA'AM!” Dawn replied as she gripped her weapon and started to run for the school entrance.</p><p>“AND DAWN!” Kennedy yelled.</p><p>“Ma'am?” Dawn paused and looked back towards the bus for a second.</p><p>“My complements to Miz Lehane and tell her from me to FECKIN' GET A MOVE ON!”</p><p>“MA'AM!” Dawn replied before heading on towards the school.</p><p>Entering through the main door, Dawn paused as her eye took in the shroud of gunsmoke and she smelt the blood in the air. Feeling very naked without her power armoured suit, she advanced down the corridor towards the fighting. Just as she saw the first of Faith's group running towards the outside world, several ceiling tiles disintegrated and fell in a heap on the corridor floor. They were followed seconds later by three Bringers who, on seeing Dawn, raised their knives and charged at her. Shooting her attackers down with contemptuous ease, Dawn grabbed the first slayer she saw.</p><p>“Stay here an' watch that hole,” Dawn ordered.</p><p>“Yes Ma'am!” the slayer said as she stopped and started to reload her weapon.</p><p>As she moved further along the corridor, Dawn found more of Faith's group heading for safety as the blocking force kept the escape route clear. Every now and then Dawn stopped to add her firepower to that of the slayers defending the passageway as the Bringers tried yet another attack only to be destroyed in a welter of buckshot and blood. Eventually, Dawn arrived at the basement door where she met Helga.</p><p>“Where's Miz Lehane, Chief?” Dawn said over the sound of all the gun fire.</p><p>“She still down there,” Helga pointed down into the basement, “I’ll go get her...?”</p><p>“NO!” Dawn replied as she racked a shell into the breach of her gun, “We both go get, okay?”</p><p>“Okay,” Helga grinned a blood thirsty grin, “after you Sergeant-Major!”</p><p>“Yippee-ki-yay motherfuckers!!” Dawn yelled as she headed on down the stairs only to be brought up short by Faith coming fast in the opposite direction.</p><p>“THEY'RE RIGHT BEHIND ME!” Faith yelled as she powered up the stairs pushing Dawn and Helga in front of her.</p><p>“RUN-AWAY!” Dawn cried out after assessing the tactical situation and starting to run for her life.</p><p>This time there'd be no orderly retreat, As they ran towards the sanctuary of the bus, Faith, Dawn and Helga would pause to fire at the Bringers and the few Ubervamps who risked coming out into the open. As they ran and fired they sent the slayers of the rear guard to join those already heading for the bus.</p><p>“THE BUS!” Faith cried as they closed with the now smashed door to the outside world, “GET ON THE FECKIN' BUS!”</p><p>Even as she gave the order slayers were climbing aboard the bus and smashing the windows so they could give their sisters covering fire. Forming a semi-circle around the bus's door the slayers kept the Bringers at a distance until there was only Faith, Helga, Dawn and Kennedy still waiting outside.</p><p>“GET ON THE FECKIN' BUS WILL YOU ALREADY!?!?” Willow screamed from the driver's seat; she had the engine running and the hand brake off as she held the vehicle on the foot brake.</p><p>“Get on the bus,” Kennedy ordered; she was the senior officer here so it was her responsibility to see everyone safe before she thought of her own welfare.</p><p>Once her comrades were aboard the bus, Kennedy took one last look round to make sure they'd left no one behind. Calmly she pulled the pistol from the holster on her hip and shot the three Bringers, who were charging at her, right between the eyes.</p><p>“Commander Rosenberg,” Kennedy said as she stepped aboard the bus as unconcerned as if she was going on a shopping trip, “if you'd be so good as to get us the feck outta here?”</p><p>“Aye, aye, Ma'am, getting us the feck out of here it is,” Willow took her foot off the foot brake and accelerated towards the school gate as Bringers ran behind the bus like tardy school-kids.</p><p>“How long have we got?” Kennedy asked.</p><p>“About eighteen minutes,” Faith replied after checking her watch.</p><p>“Erm...” Kennedy turned to speak to Willow once more, “...Commander Rosenberg, erm...eighteen minutes to reach minimum safe distance...”</p><p>“In this thing!” Willow turned to glance at Kennedy and destroyed a postal service box while she'd had her eyes off the road.</p><p>“Full speed ahead, Miz Rosenberg,” Kennedy ordered.</p><p>“Full speed ahead, it is, Ma'am!” Willow hunched over the steering wheel as the bus accelerated with agonizing slowness.</p><p>“Has anyone seen Buffy?” Dawn called from the back of the bus.</p><div class="center">
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</div>Taking the Slayer Scythe from the sports bag it had been put in, Buffy headed towards the back of the bus. Outside, slayers were fighting for their lives as she sat around doing nothing. Damn it all, she thought, she was the original slayer and she'd basically been told to sit on the bus and not get in anyone's way, well that just wasn't Buffy Summers' way of doing things. People were dying out there and it was her job to do something about it. Something at the back of her mind was telling her that everyone thought she was expendable because she wasn't 'special' any more, well, just at the moment she was feeling particularly expendable.<p>Hefting the scythe in her hands, Buffy headed for the emergency door at the rear of the bus while slayers scrambled aboard at the front. Using the sound of glass being smashed as slayers took up firing positions in the bus, Buffy opened the door and jumped down onto the school's parking lot. Glancing over her shoulder, she saw Faith, Willow, Kennedy and that Nordic girl, Helga standing by the door to the bus. Unnoticed by anyone, Buffy ran over to the door to the school. Standing there with her feet apart for balance, she cocked the scythe over her shoulder, as the first Bringers burst out into the daylight.</p><p>“COME ON YOU BASTARDS!” Buffy yelled into their faces, “COME AN' FIGHT A REAL SLAYER!”</p><p>Swinging the scythe she cut down Bringers sending their blood fountaining into the air. Standing like a rock she fought until the inevitable happen. After all there was only one 'slayer' and the Bringers were legion.</p><div class="center">
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</div>“THREE MINUTES TO GO!” Faith called as the bus rocked wildly from side to side as it headed on down the highway outside Sunnydale.<p>“Off the road,” Kennedy leaned over Willow's shoulder and pointed to a dip in the ground next to the highway, “park the bus there.”</p><p>Not bothering with a reply, Willow slowed down and drove the bus into the hollow.</p><p>“EVERYONE OUT!” Dawn yelled as she pulled the lever to open the door.</p><p>Dumping their gear the slayers rapidly filed out the door to take cover in the shelter of the bus. Once again Kennedy was last off the bus after checking no one had been left behind...no one except Buffy that was. Walking down the bus, Kennedy got off as if she hadn't a care in the world. It was important that people saw their leaders act in a calm, professional manner.</p><p>“How long, Miz Lehane,” Kennedy asked as she came to stand next to her friends.</p><p>“Ten seconds,” Faith checked her watch, “nine, eight...”</p><p>“Everyone down,” Willow called as everyone dropped to lie in the sandy soil their hands over their heads.</p><p>“Six...” Faith continued her countdown, “...five...four...three...two...one...zero...”</p><p>There followed a very loud silence.</p><p>“Miz Lehane?” Kennedy asked.</p><p>“Maybe I got the time...” Faith's comment was punctuated by a bright flash followed by a very loud ‘<b>BOOOOOM!</b>' which seemed to go on forever. </p><p>The ground shook and a strong gust of wind passed over the slayers as they sheltered behind the bus as it rocked gently on its suspension. Standing up, Kennedy came out from behind the bus to see the mushroom cloud rise into the air over Sunnydale.</p><p>“You think we got him?” Willow asked from beside Kennedy.</p><p>“I think its safe to say that The First is well and truly 'got',” Kennedy acknowledged before turning to look at Faith, “Miz Lehane your timing was off a little.”</p><p>“Won't happen again, General,” Faith called back.</p><p>“See that it doesn't,” Kennedy admonished tongue in cheek.</p><p>“Kinda fitting end for Buffy,” Dawn said as she joined the group; she was surprised that she wasn't feeling more upset. But, then again as far as Dawn was concerned, Buffy had been dead for over a thousand years, perhaps she'd have a good cry later when the loss of her sister had really sunk in.</p><p>“You're right of course, Sergeant-Major, she won't be forgotten. Even with all her faults she was a great slayer, the bravest of the brave you might say...” Kennedy glanced around at her senior people before turning back in the direction of Sunnydale and coming to attention, “Attention! Present arms!” saluting the mushroom cloud, Kennedy thought that it was in fact fitting that Buffy had died in the nuclear fire, it also made her life easier with one less obstacle in the way of reforming the Alliance, “Order arms!”</p><p>“So who do we blame for this?” Willow gestured towards the mushroom cloud as it climbed ever higher into the sky, “Someone's bound to notice and ask.”</p><p>“Oh I'm sure we can think of someone,” Kennedy replied, “maybe the North Koreans?”</p><p>“So where to now?” Helga wanted to know.</p><p>“What direction were we going in?” Kennedy asked.</p><p>“I think this is the highway that'll take us to San Francisco,” Willow replied wishing she had a map.</p><p>“Okay, San Francisco it is!” Kennedy ordered.</p><p>Once more loaded with its cargo of slayers, the bus swayed and bounced as Willow drove it back up onto the highway. Turning towards San Francisco the bus slowly gathered speed as it began its long journey into an uncertain future.</p><div class="center">
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</div>Probably for the last time, lets sing along with the Band of the US Navy while our heroes start their journey into the future (highlight and right click to follow the link).<p>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8AcsNAyXxM</p><div class="center">
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    <i>United forever in friendship and labour,<br/>Our mighty Alliance will ever endure.<br/>The Terran Alliance will live through the ages.<br/>The dream of her people their fortress secure. </i>
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    <i>Long live our Terran motherland,<br/>Built by the people's mighty hand.<br/>Long live our people, united and free.<br/>Strong in our friendship tried by fire.<br/>Long may our Terran flag inspire,<br/>Shining in glory for all there to see.</i>
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  <p>THE END.</p>
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